providing domestic partners in Berkeley and across the state with a whole host of parenting, medical and legal rights already enjoyed by heterosexual, married couples.

The adoption provision of the new law provides domestic partners with “step-parent” status, allowing for speedier, less intrusive and less expensive adoptions of their partners’ biological children.

“I think it’s a great step because it puts the partner in a position where they’re acknowledged as a parent and caretaker,” said Giamartino.

The law will also allow domestic partners to file for disability benefits on behalf of an incapacitated partner, make medical decisions for a hospitalized mate and sue for the wrongful death of a partner, among other things.

But local advocates say domestic partners’ relationships are just as meaningful as those of married couples, and that gays and lesbians deserve the same rights as heterosexuals, particularly in times of crisis.

“If you’re dealing with a partner being hospitalized or dying,” said Kriss Worthington, a gay Berkeley City Council member who advocated for passage of the bill, “it’s the worst time to be facing legal technicalities.”

Kevin James, a gay Berkeley resident who works as a lawyer for the State of California, said the provision allowing a domestic partner to sue for wrongful death is the most radical section of the law.

“This is a great step forward in recognizing that gay people really do have emotions,” said James, “in recognizing both the economic and emotional depth of gay relationships.”

But, if local gay rights advocates are pleased with the new rights provided in the bill, they said they will not be fully satisfied until the state and federal governments allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, and enjoy the literally hundreds of rights accorded to heterosexual, married couples.

The passage of Proposition 22 means that gay marriage will probably not

be a reality in California any time soon, but advocates are still attempting to beef up domestic partners’ rights.

Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, introduced Assembly Bill 1338 earlier this year. If passed, it would provide domestic partners with all the rights of married couples the state is able to furnish.

However, some federal rights including those involving income and inheritance taxes and veterans benefits would remain beyond domestic partners’ reach.

But, Holgate said Koretz and his allies are overstepping their bounds by forwarding the bill. “The will of California’s voters was clearly stated when they passed Proposition 22,” she said. “This whole movement for AB 1138 is an affront to California voters by a group of arrogant legislators.”

Svonkin said he expects the Assembly’s judiciary committee to release the bill for a vote in January.

But, he admits that Gov. Gray Davis and moderate Democrats in the legislature may be unwilling to support the measure.

“The reality is, it’s an election year for assemblymembers and the

governor,” he said, suggesting that the bill might be too controversial

to touch.

The governor’s office had no comment on AB 1338 Monday.

If Davis and moderates in the legislature combine with conservatives to block the bill, it will likely fail.

Whatever the fate of AB 1338, local gays and lesbians say they have made great strides with the passage of AB 25, both practically and symbolically.

“This reflects a huge social change over the past 20 years,” said James. “I live in a much more tolerant state today.”

Then a “wall of water came through the front door and went like a stream out the back door,” said Jon Renata Monday morning as he stood outside his ground-floor apartment at 2012 Channing Way.

At 7:10 p.m. on Sunday, the roof on the two-story apartment collapsed from the weight of “a large accumulation of water on the roof,” according to Deputy Fire Chief Debra Pryor.

“There were plugged drains on the roof,” she added.

Firefighters deemed the building unsafe and occupants spent the night elsewhere. On Monday, city inspectors took a closer look at the building and, according to Deputy Planning Director Wendy Cosin, said no one could re-enter the building until the roof was safely shored up. After the initial work was done, the building would be “yellow tagged,” which means that tenants could go back in to retrieve their belongings, but not reside there.

Renata, who had spent the night on the couch of a neighbor in a neighboring apartment building, said it’s the first time in his 17 years living in the building that something quite this dramatic has happened. However, he said that people in the front two ground-level units get flooded every year. “You have to beg (the manager) to do anything,” he said.

A person who works for owner Andrew Lipnosky, who declined to give his name, did not deny the flooding of the front apartments. He pointed to a downspout in front of one of these and noted that the pipe often gets clogged with leaves.

The cause of the roof collapse had not yet been determined, he said.

During the rainy weekend “maintenance crews had tried to keep things working,” but there was a lot to be done, he said. “We can’t keep up.”

He said he had offered an empty unit in another building to Renata who had not yet decided what to do.

The mural that some say has become an intrinsic part of Berkeley’s identity may soon be going on tour with the National Gallery of Art as part of a retrospective of one of the country’s leading African American artists.

The city commissioned New York artist Romare Bearden to create the 10.5 by 16 foot mural in 1972. The large collage can be found in the City Council Chambers immediately behind the dais from which the mayor, vice mayor and councilmembers guide city government.

The work was commissioned for $16,000, mostly raised by the Civic Arts Commission and is owned by the city as part of its public art collection.

Beardens’ mural is a collage of enlarged photographs, paintings and drawings.

“The work represents the Berkeley community,” said Civic Arts Coordinator Mary Ann Merker. “If you look closely you can see the campanile, the Bay, the bridges and images of the people and things that make Berkeley a very unique place.”

Along with artists Hale Woodruff, Charles Alston and Norman Lewis, Bearden is considered to be among the African American vanguard of Abstract Expressionists in New York during the 1940s and 1950s.

Bearden, who died in 1988 at the age of 77, is now considered to be among the most important American artists, according to “African American Art, 1998,” a historical art review complied by Sharon S Patton.

The National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C., is in the planning stages of a retrospective of Bearden’s work, tentatively scheduled for 2004. Though the details, are not yet confirmed, the retrospective would likely open at the National Gallery, then travel to two other cities, one of which would be San Francisco. In August, NGA Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings Ruth Fine and three other curators visited the City Council Chambers to inspect the mural.

Merker said Monday it has not yet been confirmed that the mural will be part of the retrospective, but the curators seemed very interested.

“They are interested because of the quality of the work and because the painting has become so intertwined with the city’s image and because it is displayed is such a public place where it is viewed by so many people,” Merker said.

In fact, one particular image in the collage, the profile of four men of different races, was selected to be the city’s logo in 1970s. The image, meant to reflect the city’s diversity, appears on Berkeley’s police and fire vehicles, business cards, pamphlets, Web site and on nearly all of the city’s letterhead.

According to City Center Coordinator Stephanie Lopez, the image has gained such high esteem as the city’s logo, that one of City Manager Weldon Rucker’s first official actions after being confirmed by the City Council in February, was to enhance the image so the colors are more distinctive.

Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz said Berkeley “would be very honored if this piece is displayed in Washington DC and other cities.”

In 1972 Bearden brought his camera to Berkeley and spent many days recording the images he thought best exemplified the city and its inhabitants.

“He incorporated the photos into his work and he was really quite successful in capturing the essence of Berkeley,” said Civic Arts Commissioner Brenda Prager. “It’s a very important piece. It’s the second largest work that Bearden ever did.” The fact that he’s an important African American artist is also significant, she said.

Bearden first attended New York University with the intent of becoming a doctor. He received a degree in science in 1936 but later studied at the New York Arts Student League where he found his true calling.

In 1963 Bearden co-founded the Spiral Group, African American artists who limited the colors in their works to only black and white as a symbol of racial conflict.

Mayor Shirley Dean said the mural is an excellent representation of the city’s diversity although she does find one thing missing.

“My only concern is that there could be more diversity of gender among the images especially considering the gender make up of the council that sits in front of it,” she said referring to the fact that eight of city’s nine councilmembers are women.

Berkeley police are investigating what could be the first homicide in the city for 2001.

Lt. Cynthia Harris, chief of detectives and public information officer for the Berkeley police, said that Sunday a female body was found floating in the Bay near the Berkeley pier.

The death is “suspicious,” Harris said. “It’s being investigated as a homicide.” Police declined to release the name of the deceased or her city of residence, because of the nature of the investigation. Harris would only say: “It involves acquaintances.”

The holidays are over, and the bills are rolling in. While gas prices are currently lower than last year, there is no guarantee that they will remain that way. Unlike electricity, gas prices are unregulated, and as we experienced a year ago, prices can swing wildly out of control.

What can you do to protect yourself from these price increases, and make your home more comfortable to live in at the same time? Insulate! Many older homes in the Bay area were built with little or no insulation in the basement, walls and ceiling, making them drafty and cold in winter, and hot in the summer. According to the US Department of Energy, "Each year the amount of energy lost through uninsulated homes in the United States is equivalent to the amount of oil delivered annually through the Alaskan Pipeline." Insulation and weatherstripping are the best way to save money, energy and even out the temperatures.

Insulation comes in several forms and materials. In existing homes, many people use a loose, blown-in insulation to avoid having to tear out walls. Loose insulation can be made of fiberglass, vermiculite (gray or brown granules) recycled newspaper that has been fire-treated, or even denim and cotton fibers that have been treated. When loose insulation is used in walls, small round holes are cut into the upper wall and the insulation is blown in through a tube. Care should be taken that additional holes are cut beneath the fire stops (horizontal boards set into the stud wall to prevent a fire from climbing through the wall) and beneath windows so the wall will be completely insulated. In an attic, the material is blown evenly to a thickness of about 9 inches.

For new homes or remodels, batts of insulation are also available, and are generally made of fiberglass. Batts can have a vapor barrier on them that reduces or prevents excess water molecules from passing through the wall. An aluminum vapor barrier will have the additional bonus of reflecting heat (or coolness) back into a room, keeping it far warmer than any other type of barrier. Care should be taken that the vapor barrier is placed on the surface closest to the interior of the room; i.e., in an attic, it should be placed on the bottom, against the ceiling.

Rigid foam insulation can also be used, although it is less common in the Bay area. Rigid foam has the advantage of being easy to install, and far less messy than other types. It may also have a vapor barrier. It is more expensive, and less commonly available than other types of insulation.

Never block the eaves and ventilation holes at the edges of the house. An attic must be vented to exhaust moisture and heat build up in summer. Blocking these vents will trap moisture, creating mold or mildew, and make an attractive habitat for termites and powder-post beetles. Also keep insulation away from recessed light fixtures, electrical fixtures, motors, bare stove or ventilation pipes, such as from a hot water heater. However, if you clear a space of insulation to install light fixtures or other things in the attic, be sure to go back and re-insulate. A gap in the insulation will act as a conduit, drawing heat rapidly out of your house.

Homeowners should check their attics, and look for a couple of things: 1) what type of wiring is there, and 2) is there any insulation? If your home has older knob-and-tube insulation, it should be checked first by a licensed electrician (with a C-10 class license.) Knob-and-tube wiring needs air around it to release its heat; loose insulation may cover splices in the wiring and create a build-up of heat, making a potential fire hazard. If there are splices, have batts installed, and trim them around the wire so it can breathe. Be sure the vapor barrier is placed on the bottom. It is fine to increase layers of material to obtain the desired or required level of insulation.

If your home has an accessible basement or crawlspace, insulation can be placed underneath and held in place with special wires made for this. This time, the vapor barrier should be placed facing up against the bottom of the floor. If your home has a garage with living space above it, insulation should also be placed on the ceiling of the garage, and a double-sided or encased batt used.

Insulation comes in different thicknesses. They are classified by their rate of resistance to allow heat energy to transfer through, called an R-value. What R-value* of insulation should you use? Berkeley’s Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) calls for a minimum of R-30 in the ceiling, between 8 and 13-1/2 inches of blown-in, depending on the type of material. Batts have labels on them indicating their R-value. If your home already has some insulation, you can always add more to bring it up to the minimum standard. If the ceiling has enough space, it is even better to increase the insulation to R-30 or greater, as long as there is enough space.

Never pack insulation tightly into a space. Air pockets are what make insulation work. The more dense a material is, the less it insulates—think about how cold stone or tile is to the touch! It would take many feet of stone to create the same insulating value as a few inches of fiberglass.

Once you have insulated your ceiling, walls and basement, you can concentrate on the rest of the places where energy is lost. Hot water pipes can easily be insulated with self-sealing material available from the BC&E Program*. Be sure to also insulate the first five feet of the cold-water inlet pipe to your hot water heater, as heat is also lost there. While you’re at it, insulate your gas hot water heater, and reduce the temperature to 115 F. degrees. Once you’ve done these steps, you should notice an immediate drop in your gas use.

Furnace hot air ducts should be insulated; older furnace ducts should be checked to insure that there are no leaks. Don’t block the air return vents; air must be exhausted from the house to allow the warm air from the furnace in.

Outlets and switches can easily be insulated with inexpensive foam gaskets. These take just a few minutes, and will immediately make your home less drafty. Window moldings should be caulked, and if there are gaps around the window sashes, they can be insulated with weatherstripping foam tape.

Entry doors should have a raised threshold and a good weather-strip at the bottom to prevent air leaks. Installing a new threshold can be tricky; hire a contractor if you do not have the skills or equipment. Thresholds and weather-strip are also available through the BC&E Program.

If you don’t use your fireplace, the flue should be permanently blocked and insulated, or removed completely. If you do use it, you may want to read an earlier PowerPlay column on heating with a fireplace. Visit the Energy Office Website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ENERGY for

online articles.

Once your home is properly insulated and weatherized, the energy drain will be permanently stopped. Your home will feel much more comfortable with those drafts blocked, and better still, you will be better protected from fluctuating energy prices. For more information on insulating, the City Energy Office provides a home energy insulation guide, which is available at the Permit Service Center, 2120 Milvia Street.

The BC&E Program (Berkeley Conservation and Energy) makes insulating and energy conservation equipment available at wholesale prices to the public. It is a partnership between the City of Berkeley, the Ecology Center, and Community Energy Services Corporation (CESC). Products are available at the Berkeley Farmers’ Markets and various local retailers in Berkeley. Visit the Energy Office website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ENERGY for more information.

* R-Value, or "resistance", is a measure of the amount of thermal resistance that a material has. The reciprocal of this is thermal conductance. The greater the R-value a material has, the greater its insulating value.

SACRAMENTO (AP) — Domestic partners, the unemployed, nursing mothers, janitors, hat-loving students — even sheepherders — will have something extra to celebrate on New Year’s Day.

They are among the beneficiaries of hundreds of new California laws that take effect Jan. 1.

Gov. Gray Davis signed 948 bills in 2001 and the overwhelming majority of them become law with the arrival of the new year.

There will be new laws to discourage gender price discrimination, protect spouses who sign prenuptial agreements, clean up polluted urban sites and provide telephone service to thousands of isolated Californians.

There will also be statutes raising unemployment benefits, tying construction of large housing developments to the availability of water and allowing betting on horse races by telephone or Internet.

Another new law will allow consumers to avoid most calls from telemarketers by getting on a do-not-call list the attorney general must have available by Jan. 1, 2003.

Domestic partners will get more of the rights of married couples in the new year, including the ability to make health care decisions for an incapacitated partner, adopt a partner’s child and use sick leave to care for an ill partner.

Domestic partners are same-sex couples or unmarried heterosexual couples who, at least in the case of one partner, are over age 62.

Spouses who are pressured to sign prenuptial agreements will benefit from another new law. It will bar a court from upholding a premarital agreement unless the affected party was represented by an attorney or had waived that representation in writing.

The law will also give a prospective spouse at least seven days to consider signing the agreement and will require that the rights the spouse is giving up must be spelled out in writing.

California’s unemployment benefits, now lower than those offered by 45 other states, will begin a series of increases Jan. 1, with maximum payments reaching $450 a week in 2005. They’re now $230.

Developers planning to build 500 or more homes will first have to show there is enough water available to supply the project. Another law will limit their ability to use 19th century plot maps to skirt current zoning restrictions.

Other new laws will:

— Require employers to make a reasonable effort to provide a time and adequate place for employees who are nursing to pump breast milk.

— Allow janitors who work for companies with 25 or more employees to keep their jobs for at least 60 days when their employers lose janitorial contracts.

— Allow students to wear sun-protective clothing, including hats, although school officials can ban gang garb.

— Require minimum wage increases for sheepherders and make other improvements in their working conditions, including requiring meal and rest breaks whenever feasible.

— Require tailors, hair salons and dry cleaners to post their prices, a step supporters say will discourage them from charging higher prices to women for virtually the same services they provide men.

— Permit local governments to order landowners to clean up polluted parcels known as brown fields.

— Create an annual $10 million grant program to provide telephone service to isolated, low-income communities.

— Exempt undocumented immigrants who meet long-term California residency requirements from paying the higher fees charged out-of-state students at community colleges and the California State University.

— Make it a misdemeanor to sell candy-flavored cigarettes known as bidis in businesses that allow access to minors.

— Put restrictions on high-interest “predatory lending,” including requiring lenders to determine if a borrower has the ability to pay.

— Create a presumption that state and local-government lifeguards who develop skin cancer are eligible for workers compensation benefits.

— Require, with some exceptions, that all firearms made or sold in California come with a state-approved trigger lock to try to reduce the number of accidental shootings. Davis signed this bill in 1999 but it doesn’t take effect until 2002.

— Allow fines of up to $100 for leaving a child under the age of six unattended in a motor vehicle.

— Make it a crime to threaten people using or working in a clinic offering abortions.

— Bar employers from requiring workers to speak only English unless an English-only policy is justified by a business necessity.

— Prohibit employers from discriminating against employees and job applicants because of their lawful conduct outside the workplace.

ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP) — A body found floating in the Delta on Sunday afternoon was identified as Mark Osborn, a 17-year-old Oakley youth who apparently drowned in an accident while duck hunting with his father and a friend.

Sgt. John King of the East Bay Regional Parks police said three fishermen found the body near the Antioch Bridge.

The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department and East Bay parks police recovered the body. The county coroner’s office later made a positive identification.

Osborn was duck hunting with his father, Kent Osborn, and his friend Michael Valin, 15, on Dec. 2 when their boat capsized in rough waters on the Delta.

Kent Osborn was rescued about eight hours later, floating with the help of a pair of duck decoys and suffering from hypothermia. The two boys could not be found.

Valin’s body was found Dec. 21 near the site of the accident.

———

BELMONT, Calif. (AP) — A man driving a motor home led police on a two-day odyssey this weekend that began with a series of crank 911 calls and ended in a decidedly low-speed chase on Peninsula highways.

The motor home was “not exactly a choice vehicle when you’re trying to outrun a police officer,” said Belmont Police Department Sgt. Dan Desmidt.

Twice on Saturday, officers responded to 911 reports of a disturbance at a home on Christian Drive. But each call was found to be a prank, said Desmidt.

Lovecchio’s wife, who was not identified, told police her husband was drunk and repeatedly called her throughout the day.

A patrol officer spotted Lovecchio around midnight on U.S. Highway 101, in San Carlos. Lovecchio refused to pull over his motor home, starting a pursuit — reaching speeds no greater than 55 mph — along northbound 101, west on Highway 92 and ending in Half Moon Bay.

Less than half an hour later, Lovecchio was taken into custody without further incident.

He was booked into San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City on numerous charges including driving under the influence, evading a police officer, making false emergency reports and violating a restraining order.

Schollar agreed to repaint and refurbish 200 of the city’s more than 1,500 fire hydrants.

The 17-year-old scout is repainting the fireplugs in the city’s preferred bright yellow, as well as cleaning inside the hose connection, checking water pressure, cleaning up brush and trash and loosening frozen caps.

Since he got to work in September, Schollar has completed about 25 percent of his project. He has to finish before August, when he turns 18. An Eagle Scout must be 17 when he earns the honor.

Fire officials say the hydrants, which are supposed to be serviced annually, have not been touched since 1994.

Fortunately, Schollar has some help. He’s now supervising a crew of nine Boy Scouts — and his father — who are helping out with the project.

———

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — More than a quarter of the 1,800 teachers in Santa Clara County’s largest district are eligible to leave classrooms with a generous retirement package thanks to a deal crafted in a spring 1999 contract.

The prospect of an unprecedented exodus of experienced San Jose teachers has left some wondering how the school district will cope with the loss of so many veterans at a time when the state is pressuring schools to show academic improvement every year.

School officials and teachers’ union officials viewed the package as a way to pay tribute to instructors who have given years to the students of San Jose. And they say putting the deal together three years ago to take effect this spring bought them time to plan for mass retirements and the ensuing hiring push.

No one will know for sure how many teachers are leaving until April, when teachers must notify the school district if they plan to return next year.

So far, 24 administrators — about a third of those eligible — have taken the package. And 500 San Jose teachers could choose to cash in, too. The deal offers a $40,000 annuity, paid over several years, and seven years of medical coverage to teachers who are eligible to retire under the state retirement system.

The district expects 200 to 250 experienced instructors to leave, in addition to the 100 to 125 teachers who normally depart in a given year.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A group of wealthy Republicans in Orange County has created the state’s largest GOP political action committee in an attempt to broaden the party’s appeal.

The New Majority was formed in early 2000 in Orange County, the historic center of the state’s Republican Party.

Membership has more than doubled since its inception, from 44 to 110, and 14 members have joined Team 100, which requires a donation of $100,000 or more to the national Republican party.

The group has riled some established Republicans who contend that its wealthy members are out of touch with working-class Republicans.

New Majority members include: George Argyros, the U.S. Ambassador to Spain; Henry Samueli, founder of technology heavyweight Broadcom and Donald Bren, billionaire chairman of The Irvine Co., a real estate development firm.

Each member pays $10,000 to join the New Majority, which hopes to expand to Los Angeles and San Diego counties. The group’s goal is to promote more mainstream Republicans in key GOP primaries, believing they stand a better chance of winning against Democrats.

Members raised $3 million for the President George W. Bush’s campaign in 2000, gaining most of that during two high-profile fund-raisers in Orange County.

The group last month also formally endorsed former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan as its Republican candidate for governor. Riordan supports abortion rights and gun control, which sets him apart from the two more conservative GOP candidates — businessman Bill Simon Jr. and Secretary of State Bill Jones.

The endorsement for Riordan came with $100,000 and individual members contributed another $400,000.

New Majority leadership also helped lead an internal coup of the state GOP apparatus organized by Bush’s California political strategist, Gerry Parsky. Changes adopted in October transferred party power from a group of conservatives to a professional manager accountable to a board of directors, including a representative of the party’s major donors.

“They’re a vital new element in the Republican party,” said California Republican Party Chairman Shawn Steel, a lawyer from Palos Verdes. “They represent a new generation of entrepreneurs who will help make the Republican Party the major party in California in the next 10 years. Their timing was exquisite.”

Of the state’s 15.3 million voters, 45 percent are Democrats and 35 percent are Republicans, while 14.5 percent decline to state a party affiliation.

MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) — With thick kelp forests and exotic wildlife, Monterey Bay has been described more than once as an underwater Yosemite. Now, the ocean expanse will get one of the true trappings of a national park, a visitor center.

Fulfilling a decade-long dream of former Congressman Leon Panetta and other bay supporters, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary — America’s largest protected ocean area — secured preliminary funding from Congress in December.

The funding came Nov. 28, when President Bush signed the Department of Commerce budget bill, which included $1.25 million for planning and other work on the project.

Next month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) plans to award a contract for a feasibility study. Construction could start in 2003.

“This is great,” said Panetta, now chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission, a non-profit group studying ocean issues nationwide.

“The problem with the ocean is that we tend to take it for granted. In Monterey Bay, you’ve got a canyon that is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, for example. So few people really know about the sea life there. A center like this will give us a chance to see what lies beneath.”

While in Congress representing Monterey and Santa Cruz, Panetta blocked efforts by the Reagan administration to allow offshore oil drilling off Big Sur and the San Mateo County coast. He wrote the bill that established the sanctuary boundaries along 276 miles of coastline from the Marin Headlands to Hearst Castle, banning oil drilling forever in the area. The bill was signed into law in 1992.

During that era, Panetta repeatedly said he hoped the public would have a place similar to a national park visitor center to learn about the marine environment, central coast history and the extensive underwater research in Monterey Bay.

A location hasn’t been chosen yet, said William Douros, superintendent of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, headquartered in Monterey.

But Douros said the three leading sites so far are Santa Cruz, possibly on the Municipal Wharf or at the old Depot site near the wharf; Monterey, in the Custom House Plaza area at the foot of Fisherman’s Wharf; or in Aptos, on state park property on the bluffs above Seacliff State Beach.

“We’ll want to describe what a marine sanctuary is, why it is there, what is out there and what people can do to protect it,” Douros said.

Douros said he envisions a building of about 8,000 to 12,000 square feet. There would be exhibits on wildlife and history, along with information telling people where they could fish, boat, walk along the beach or find other activities.

There also probably will be a children’s classroom for field trips, a small gift shop and a screening room for a sanctuary video, similar to national park visitor centers, or the Elkhorn Slough visitor center, he said. In addition, the center could have exhibits on all 12 of the nation’s marine sanctuaries.

“You might have a panel of monitors, and you could say ’Let’s go to the coral reef in the Florida Keys, let’s go to a bird colony in the Farallon Islands,”’ he said. “That’s one of the exciting things we are looking at.”

Douros said if the eventual site is at Seacliff State Beach, it could be jointly run by state park employees, local volunteers or NOAA staff. Because of its location, that site also could allow the building to have a deck with telescopes looking out onto the ocean, he said.

After the feasibility study is finished next summer, there will be public meetings, Douros said. The eventual total cost could be $5 million to $8 million, he said.

Seacliff State Beach already receives more than 1 million visitors a year and has a small visitor center near the Palo Alto, an abandoned ship made of cement and moored offshore.

Dave Vincent, superintendent of the Santa Cruz state parks region, said he likes the idea, and that the 5-acre site atop the bluffs now is used only as an occasional overflow parking lot. Money could come from private donations and future state parks bonds, he said.

“It would have panoramic views,” Vincent said. “There are just sweeping vistas there. We could also use it as a hub to refer people to Long Marine Lab and the Monterey Aquarium and other places.”

There is plenty to study. The sanctuary is home to 26 species of marine mammals, 94 species of seabirds, at least 345 different kinds of fish and 1,276 known shipwrecks.

LOS ANGELES — A power crisis that cost the state billions. A dot-com bust that was far worse than expected. Finally, the devastating economic impact of a terrorist attack no one could have anticipated.

“This year there have been a succession of challenges and blows that have not been expected and that have taken their toll on the economy,” said Sunne Wright McPeak, president and chief executive of the Bay Area Council, which represents business interests in the San Francisco Bay area.

Looking ahead to 2002, experts warn Californians not to expect things to get better anytime soon.

At the start of the new year, California’s unemployment rate has reached its highest level in five years. The state government, having spent $9 billion just to keep the lights on, finds itself burdened with a budget deficit expected to swell to $12.4 billion.

Economists, meanwhile, predict that personal incomes will shrink in 2002 while unemployment continues to rise and the state budget deficit continues to grow.

The problems began in 2001 when the tech boom that had raised Silicon Valley home prices to record levels finally ended.

State employment peaked in June, and since then California has shed 101,600 jobs. In November, the state’s jobless figure reached 6 percent, topping 1 million for the first time in five years.

Northern California’s Silicon Valley, which had fueled much of the state’s economic expansion through the 1990s, was particularly hard hit. In Santa Clara County, the heart of the technology haven, the unemployment rate rose to 6.6 percent in November from just 1.5 percent a year earlier.

“We’ve been through a searing experience,” said Jim Cunneen, president and chief executive of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

Parts of Southern California did manage to avoid last year’s downturn, however, and economists believe some areas will continue to thrive, thanks to their diversified economies. In Orange County, for example, unemployment actually dropped a fraction in November to 3.4 percent.

But even in the South there is pain. The manufacturing, services and airline industries are scrambling to contain costs in light of falling revenue.

Small businesses are also feeling the pain.

“It’s been up and down, up and down,” said William Ho, general manager of Top Hat Cleaners in West Hollywood.

The energy crisis doubled his monthly electricity to bill to $1,200, forcing him to consider raising prices just as he saw business slowing. The Sept. 11 attacks on New York also added uncertainty. But then a sudden drop in gasoline prices, along with electricity conservation, helped Ho control costs.

“Things are starting to come back. The whole picture is looking a bit better since the Thanksgiving holiday,” he said.

But optimism is flowing in dribs and drabs. Across the state, retailers added only sparingly to their part-time ranks for the holiday shopping season. In the movie production business, employment is at its lowest level since the summer of 1997.

Falling corporate profits and the weakening employment picture mean Californians won’t see wages, salaries and bonuses jump as they have in recent years. In fact, economists predict there will be an overall net decrease in personal income next year.

An expected gain of 1.3 percent will amount to a net loss of 1.4 percent after inflation is factored in, said Tom Leiser, senior economist of the UCLA Anderson Forecast.

The figure represents a dramatic falloff from 2000, when personal income across the state increased by an average of nearly 10 percent before inflation.

“There are more job seekers now. The pressure has gone out of wages,” Leiser said.

Before the economy bounces back, experts say the effects of California’s energy crisis, the tech bust and the terrorist attacks must play out.

Although the energy shortage caused less damage than anticipated, due mostly to mild summer weather and widespread energy conservation, aftereffects remain. The state government, for example, is still trying to find a way to finance billions of dollars in payments made to secure long-term power contracts.

That liability, on top of a massive decrease in tax dollars that occurred when stock market gains flattened out and general merchandise sales fell off, is turning what was an anticipated $2.6 billion reserve for fiscal 2001-2002 into a state budget deficit of $4.5 billion. For the 2002-2003 budget year, that shortfall is expected to swell to at least $12.4 billion, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.

The net result: expect big cuts in the state budget and the amount of money the government injects into the economy. California’s budget has already become a drag on the economy and will slow the recovery that is expected to begin by the middle of next year, Leiser said.

The travel industry, meanwhile, continues to exhibit aftershocks from the terrorist attacks. The transportation and utilities industry dumped 9,800 more jobs in November, mostly in the state’s airline industry.

In the technology sector, companies have been positioning themselves to ride the eventual recovery wave by streamlining their payrolls, products and services, and maintaining research and development.

Although there’s still no firm sign that the tech sector has hit bottom, a survey by the Bay Area Council reported that 38 percent of residents and businesses in the region expect the economy to improve through 2002. Just under one-third thought it would get worse in the next six months.

In a state that leads the nation in 79 farm commodities, authorities say 2001’s losses continue a trend in which an estimated 500,000 acres — equivalent of three Modestos — yield to city pavement every decade.

“The Inland Empire is tops on the list,” said Erik Vink, who heads the state Department of Conservation’s land protection division.

Riverside County — still the state’s ninth most productive farm county for its milk, citrus and vegetables — paved more than 15,000 acres of farmland between 1998 and 2000, Vink said. He said Inland Empire cities — Corona, Moreno Valley, Temecula, Chino and Ontario — are fast filling rural spaces with suburban commuter housing.

Vink cited similar-scale farmland conversions in San Francisco’s East Bay and Sacramento County. Indeed, as California’s farm economy struggles with low commodity prices, suburban roof lines are more common in old farm towns such as Los Banos, Clovis and Tracy. On former vineyards along the Central Valley’s Highway 99, Turlock, Selma and Manteca grow auto malls and regional shopping centers.

Though 2001’s 50,000 acres represents a bare fraction of California’s 9 million irrigated acres, experts warn that one-third of those being paved are the state’s best soils. And some warn that the state needs a far-reaching growth plan, possibly to steer development into foothills and away from the Central, Salinas and Santa Maria valleys and Oxnard Plain.

The four regions grow most of the nation’s fresh produce.

“Currently, the state doesn’t have much of a role,” said Alvin Sokolow, public policy analyst at the University of California, Davis. “It has no role.”

Nonetheless, an old California industry that accounts for 13 percent of the nation’s farm receipts on 4 percent of its land, finds itself with new allies. Increasingly, farmers, cities and counties are tapping state and federal programs, even the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, for millions of dollars to save farms from the state’s relentless growth.

Statistics show most of California’s 35 million residents live on 5.5 million acres of urban land.

But as the state adds 600,000 people a year, government and private grant makers have begun something relatively new: buying development rights to thousands of acres of crop land. It’s an idea largely pioneered in small eastern states: Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey, said Chuck Tyson, who heads the California Farmland Conservancy Program.

California’s five-year-old program has already put 13,500 acres off limits to urban development. It offers farm owners a one-time cash payment: the difference between the land’s farming value and the price a developer would pay.

In return, owners must farm the land in perpetuity.

In a 2001 report on farmland conversion, UC Davis specialists said typical farmland is worth $5,500 an acre. But the same land may be worth $40,000 an acre to a developer — or much higher if the area has sewers.

“The idea isn’t about stopping growth, but hopefully, at the local level, defining areas that have the greatest strategic ag value,” Tyson said. Typically, local governments link farms with prime soils and form a wall steering growth elsewhere.

“Some of the best examples are in Marin County,” he said, “and we’re increasingly seeing in it Monterey County, in the Salinas Valley.”

Near Salinas, the state and the Packard Foundation, funded by profits from Silicon Valley’s Hewlett-Packard Corp., each paid $600,000 to preserve the 180-acre Dolan Ranch. In Livermore, the state bought development rights to 100 acres of Beyer’s Ranch owned by the winemaking Wente Family. The cost: $741,000.

Now, Lake County is considering the idea to save pear orchards being lost to large-lot housing.

Tyson said the state program received $25 million from Proposition 12, the $2.1 billion park and open space bond passed by voters in 2000. The Packard Foundation committed $175 million to conserve landscapes statewide, including farms. The foundation gave the Modesto-based Great Valley Center $5.7 million in 2000 to save strategic farmland. It scattered millions more among other groups with the same intent.

Yet as housing shortages in job-rich areas push commuter housing deeper into rural areas, some say giving tax breaks and buying development rights is a small vision. Sokolow noted that California’s farmers are again starting a new year with no prospects for a statewide growth plan.

“In political and policy terms, this state, the state government, has dropped the ball,” he said.

“Clearly it’s a case where you can’t just depend on local control,” said Sokolow. “Ultimately, I hope, sooner than later, the state will have to stop in and develop a statewide sense of what the future should be. This has not been on any governor’s agenda in recent years,” he said.

The south branch of the Berkeley Public Library overflowed with holiday cheer on Saturday as around 50 celebrants came to mark Ujamaa, the fourth day of Kwanzaa.

Kwanzaa – Swahili for “first fruits” – is not a religious holiday but rather a cultural one that celebrates Pan-African culture. It was first celebrated in 1966, and is practiced by millions today.

The holiday was invented by Dr. Maulana Karenga, an academic, during the great period of social change in the 1960s.

“Some people look at that – that it’s an invented holiday – as implying something that’s not true,” said Paris Williams, the master of ceremonies at Saturday’s event.

So much was lost when Africans were brought to the Americas, Williams said – religion, family names and history. Critics of Kwanzaa sometimes suspect that because the holiday is invented, everything it celebrates is also made up.

Nothing could be further from the truth, Williams said.

“Kwanzaa is not a reinvention but a reaffirmation of our history,” she said.

Williams lit the red, black and green candles on the kinara, the ceremonial candleholder – one for each day of Kwanzaa leading up to Ujamaa.

Young Samora Piderhughes explained the symbolism of the candle-lighting ceremony, and later led the room in singing the Black National Anthem — “Lift Every Voice,” by James Weldon Johnson.

Later, storyteller Marijo entertained and educated children and adults alike with a spirited tale that illustrated the theme of the day – Ujamaa, or cooperative economics.

A Ghanaian youth, bored by pastoral life in his small, hardworking village, sets off for Accra – a shining city full of great wealth where he hopes to make his fortune.

The boy suffers a number of misadventures, and eventually realizes the error of his ways. He sees that his envy had blinded him to the values he learned in his village, and he returns to work together with his countrymen. Eventually, cooperative labor brings great wealth to their own village.

Today, New Year’s Eve, is also Kuumba, the sixth and last day of Kwanzaa. Kuumba means “creativity,” and Kwanzaa practitioners will spend the day reflecting on the legacy of African contributions to the arts and sciences.

As Kwanzaa is also a forward-looking holiday, though, they will also consider how to best use their own creativity to contribute to future generations.

Speaking of the first generations of Africans in America, whose suffering may seem so purposeless, Williams pointed out that it was their hard work, as well as their fight for freedom, that made everyone present possible.

“Who were they?” she asked. “They were the people who dreamed us, the lives we lead today.

“Now, it is our responsibility to dream the lives our children will lead tomorrow.”

After opening the Leo LaRocca Sand Dune Classic boys basketball tournament with a heartbreaking loss to Acalanes, Berkeley High was eliminated from contention in the holiday tournament and placed in the consolation bracket. It would have been very tempting for the Yellowjackets to phone in the tournament’s remaining two games and begin looking forward to a fresh start in 2002.

Instead the ‘Jackets rebounded, beating Fremont handily Friday night, then capping their 2001 on Saturday night with a 64-56 victory over Cardinal Newman to claim the tournament’s consolation bracket championship.

Berkeley now enters 2002, and league play, with a head of steam. The ’Jackets went undefeated in ACCAL play last season before losing to De La Salle in the North Coast Section playoffs.

“We open up with Richmond in league,” Berkeley head coach Mike Gragnani said. “We’re going to take some time off, then go back to work next week, get three or four good days of practice in, and try to defend our crown.”

The Yellowjackets wasted no time Saturday night, opening up a 10-3 lead in the first few minutes on five layups, three of them by center Damien Burns.

“We had a great start,” Gragnani said. “We really executed well offensively. I think we shot 81 percent in the first five minutes... [the players] executed our system.”

It isn’t hard to shoot 81 percent on a steady diet of layups, which is exactly what Berkeley’s well-spaced offensive system provided in Saturday night’s first half. Yellowjackets, most frequently forward Robert-Hunter Ford, repeatedly snuck behind Cardinal defenders for uncontested shots.

Burns had 11 of his game-high 19 points, and Hunter-Ford 10 of his 14, in the first half as Berkeley opened up a 37-20 halftime lead.

“They really did good reading the defender tonight,” Gragnani said. “When the defender lost vision, we made the back-cuts... it means we’re learning how to play.”

The 17-point halftime lead stretched to 22 early in the third period on consecutive 3-point plays by senior Jesse Alter. Gragnani was complimentary of Alter’s play in the tournament after the game, calling the back-to-back driving buckets and their ensuing foul conversions “huge.”

But the Cardinals weren’t quite done yet. They promptly answered with a 10-point run, cutting the lead to 12 and precipitating a Berkeley timeout. They would further whittle away during the remainder of the third quarter, finally drawing within nine, 49-40, at the start of the fourth quarter.

The ‘Jackets immediately turned to their big man to stem the Cardinal tide. Burns responded with two quick buckets that lifted the Berkeley lead back into double digits, where it would stay until the final two minutes.

Cardinal Newman would make the final score look closer than it actually was by making four desperation three-pointers as time expired.

Senior guard Nate Walker, who poured in three of those last-minute three-pointers, matched Burns’ game-high 19 points. Teammate Dave Robb, who led all scorers with 26 in Friday’s Cardinal victory over Saint Ignatius, was held to only 10.

Gragnani smiled as he shuffled out of the empty Saint Ignatius gym, where he used to be an assistant coach before taking over at Berkeley High.

“I’m tired,” he said. “We’re taking three days off now. They earned it, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Compiled by Guy Poole

Monday December 31, 2001

Thursday, Jan. 3

California Desert Hikes

7 p.m.

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Steve Tabor will share slides and information on his favorite day hikes in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego and the Mojave. 527-4140

Puppet Art Theater Company

with Art Grueneberger

11 a.m.

Public Library, West Branch

1125 University Ave.

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

Puppet Art Theater Company

with Art Grueneberger

3 p.m.

Public Library, North Branch

1170 The Alameda

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

Friday, Jan. 4

Even Stronger Women

1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave.

This week’s discussion: Helen Keller and film. 232-1351.

Saturday, Jan. 5

Marionette Puppets

10:30 a.m.

Public Library, Central Branch

2121 Allston Way

JoJo La Plume appears with a performance to ethnic music and sounds of nature. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

The Cal Sailing Club, a nonprofit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, gives free rides on a first come, first served basis. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and accompanied by an adult. 208-5460, www.cal-sailing.org.

The United States should be throwing words rather than bombs at Middle Eastern regions that seem to house terrorists. And the United States public needs to be involved in choosing the words our government throws. It is the American way that an informed public contributes to the political discourse.

The American way is thwarted by the press censorship of terrorist arguments, in particular, the censorship of the recent 33 minute long Osama bin Laden video. We in the United States public received a only isolated sentences while many millions of TV viewers in the Arab world received the entire video. The Mexico City daily La Jornada proved to have more of the 33 minutes of bin Laden discourse than anything I could find scanning US press sources on the Internet.

The segments provided in La Jornada show that bin Laden twists facts with fiction. If we the public can’t read his little twists, how can we help our political leaders provide cogent answers to his calls for war?

One argument with a twist is bin Laden’s comment that — and I apologize for any errors that might come from retranslating a translation — The United States aided all those who fought against the Russians in Afghanistan, but when those Arab combatants realigned themselves into the ranks of the displaced innocent Palestinian children, then the United States turned against those combatants in Afghanistan. Bin Laden makes it look like a slew of the Arab militants that he represents are off in Palestine fighting shoulder to shoulder with their brothers in the Infatada. There is much evidence of an absence of outsiders fighting with the Palestinians. The people of the Middle East know this for they have that Qatar TV outlet that provides far more comprehensive news than does our media.

A comprehensive knowledge of bin Laden arguments is essential for those who would build a peace movement to replace the war on terrorism with an international legal assault, or, if not that, then with a shift from the present hot war into a cold one.

“Every Inch a King” Jan. 11 through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun

“Images of Innocence and Beauty” Through Jan. 8: An exhibit featuring Kathleen Flannigan’s drawing and furniture - boxes, tables, and mirrors, all embellished with images of the beauty and innocence of the natural world. Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison St.

“From With These Walls” Jan. 5: Educational studio opening celebration gallery show of student works in steel, bronze, aluminum, cast iron, glass, neon, ceramic, stone and paper; jewelry. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby St. (Entrance is one block south on Murray St.) 843-5511, fran@thecrucible.org.

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography. Wed, Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.

Jewish Community Center Jan. 14: 7:30-9 p.m., Emily Rose interweaves the family chronicle of her ancestors with the political and social events of the 18th and 19th centuries; Jan. 16: 7:30-8:30 p.m., Elizabeth Rosner will read from her debut novel “The Speed of of Light.” 1414 Walnut St.

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot by 40 foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821.

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lhs.berkeley.edu.

A applicant for a food cart license, who has invested $20,000 and waited over five years for an opportunity to start a business, is becoming impatient with the city’s apparent inability to clarify its licensing policy.

The applicant, who asked that his name not be used for this story, said the city is in violation of its own ordinance, which requires the licenses of city’s three mobile food carts, located just outside UC Berkeley on Bancroft Way at Telegraph Avenue, to be turned over to new vendors every four years.

According to the applicant, hundreds of potential entrepreneurs have put their names on the city’s waiting list for an opportunity to open a food cart business. But no new licenses have been issued for years.

“The idea of the ordinance is to allow vendors four years to develop a business that would hopefully grow into a restaurant,” he said. “But now all three of the vendors have been there for much longer than four years and some have also opened restaurants.”

The three food carts, Veggie Heaven, Chinese Kitchen and Musashi, are currently operating without a license said Director of Finance Fran David. However, the City Council approved a recommendation to not take any action on the mobile food cart vendors until the city’s policy has been clarified, David added.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington sponsored the resolution on behalf of Shihadeh Kitami, the owner of Veggie Heaven who was about to lose his vendor license. At the time, Worthington said the issue should be studied further before shutting down the food cart. Worthington said he was concerned because Veggie Heaven, which uses organically grown produce, was especially popular because it is one of the few places near campus where inexpensive and healthy food was available.

The resolution was approved unanimously by the council on September 25 along with a request for a report on the licensing policy from the Finance Department, which oversees food cart licensing, by Oct. 9. However David has not yet submitted the report.

“We anticipate the report going to council some time in January,” David said.

Meanwhile the applicant, who has waited years for a license, said the city led him to believe his license was finally about to be approved.

He said he quit his job and spent $20,000 for a trailer, a van and kitchen equipment including an oven but has not been able to get a response from the Finance Department about the status of his application.

“They keep saying the same thing, ‘we’re looking into this, we’re checking on that’ and now it’s been over five years,” he said.

David said she did not know what action the council was likely to take.

“They could do just about anything, keep things the way they are, restructure the ordinance or just get rid of the carts altogether,” she said.

Food carts have been a tradition at the busy intersection since the 1960s. At one time there were as many as eight small businesses selling affordable meals primarily to students. However, over the years, the city has scaled back food cart licenses to where there are now only three operating.

Dennis Gates, known mostly for his defensive prowess, came through with the biggest shot of his career, nailing a 3-pointer with four seconds left in regulation to lift Cal to a 76-73 win over Penn State in the championship game of the Golden Bear Classic on Saturday at Haas Pavilion.

Cal (9-1) built as much as a 10-point lead in the second half, but Penn State (4-7) kept the game close on outside shooting from guards Brandon Watkins and Sharif Chambliss. Still, the Bears managed to keep an advantage down the stretch until the Nittany Lions tied it at 73-73 on a Chambliss 3-pointer with 1:27 left.

Neither team scored on its next possession and Penn State rebounded an Amit Tamir miss with 25 seconds left to try to set up a final shot. However, Tamir pressured Nittany Lion forward Jan Jagla into a traveling call, giving the Bears a last chance with 13 seconds to go.

Shantay Legans faked penetrating into the key and dished out to Gates, who was waiting just outside the top of the circle. Gates, who finished with 15 points, sank the bucket to put Cal ahead. Penn State then tried to drive back down the court, but Gates drew a charge from Watkins with 1.4 seconds on the clock.

“Give Dennis credit. Dennis is a winner and he’s not afraid to take that shot,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “He was a part of two huge plays at the end of the game... one of which will probably go unnoticed.”

Cal center Solomon Hughes made 8-of-10 shots from the floor to finish with a career-high 19 points and earn tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Gates also gained a spot on the all-tournament team, which also included Watkins (19 points) and Chambliss (18) as well as Harvard’s Patrick Harvey.

Freshman forward Tamir, playing in only his second game for the Bears, added 12 points and nine rebounds, while Joe Shipp chipped in with 12 points. Braun seemed enthused about his new frontcourt rotation of Hughes, Tamir and freshman Jamal Sampson.

“Solomon was outstanding. He’s a hard worker with a great attitude. He’s a guy that wants the ball and he showed that tonight with a career-high 19 points,” Braun said. “Amit complemented Solomon real well tonight. In only his second game, we are excited about what we saw out of Amit. He really makes the people around him better.”

With the win, Cal finished its non-conference record with a perfect 9-0 mark at home. The Bears begin Pac-10 action Jan. 4 at Stanford. The Cardinal then returns the trip to Berkeley Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. in Haas Pavilion.

How come so many people responding to Mr. Steinbergs’ excellent humorous and well stated letter of Dec. 24 do not see what is before their eyes? Gee whiz did none of those things he mentioned happen? No, I think they did, but some folks just can’t bring themselves to admitting reality.

For the first time in nearly 20 years Afghanistan has an opportunity to recreate itself as a nation. How come the critics have ignored the deals that have been hammered out between the different tribal groups within Afghanistan — with no direct U.S. government involvement? That the interim leader, Hamid Karzai, is

Pashtoon — the same tribe that the Taliban is mostly made up from. The creation of this government was difficult and a whole series of compromises and it has been inclusive and balanced. But the Afghans did it, not us. They are just beginning to rebuild what they lost and the U.N., Europe and the U.S. need to support this effort. And guess what, they sure appreciated our help.

It would be wonderful if the bombing campaign, war and battles, the unfortunate deaths of civilians did not have to happen. It would also be nice to see no more blood shed any where in the world to resolve political

problems, but it just isn't so at this time. War is an extension of political motivations and when opportunists can take charge over the weak they do it. I think the Taliban knew this well.

How come the critics of the bombing ignore the incredible suffering of the Afghan people over the last 20 years? How come no one wants to see the liberation of Kabul and the hear the joy of people able to express their culture again? How come no one wants to talk about the horrible abuses the Taliban committed against women and average citizens over the last five years?

War is war and sometimes it has to happen to create freedom. A painful truth. A blissfully uneducated and ignorant stance based on political ideology does nothing but create more ignorance as people continue to suffer. Unfortunately Barbara Lee reflects this uniformed “politically correct” point of view and as with the Emperor’s new clothes no one can admit it.

With 2001 drawing to a close, the Daily Planet asked members of the Board of Education to recall their most significant decisions from the past year.

The clear winner: the hiring of new Superintendent Michele Lawrence last spring.

“The most important decision a school board can make is getting an educational leader,” said Terry Doran, a school board member. “In getting Michele Lawrence, we really felt we got someone who had the necessary skills to confront the issues we face.”

“The new superintendent really is bringing to us a clear track record of success,” added Shirley Issel, president of the school board, referring to Lawrence’s ten-year run as superintendent of the Paramount United School District in Los Angeles County.

School board members said Lawrence has been particularly helpful, thus far, in focusing attention on the need to improve the district’s struggling business, data, food services and maintenance systems.

“There were slippages over several years and at some point it gets critical,” said John Selawsky, a school board member, referring to the decline of district systems. “We’ve reached that stage.”

Selawsky says Lawrence has helped to clarify the connection between these systems and the day-to-day realities of the classroom. But, he credits Steve Gladstone, who served as interim superintendent before Lawrence took over in July, with laying the groundwork on business and maintenance issues.

Indeed, Selawsky said the board’s January decision to hire an interim superintendent who did more than just tread water was one of the board’s most important moves of the year.

Ted Schultz, a school board member, said the board’s ongoing efforts to reorganize the faltering business department also deserve top billing.

The board attempted to lend some stability to the department, roiled by the departure of key administrators this year, and hampered by an old data processing system, when it hired a new business chief, Jerry Kurr, in December.

Kurr had served as a business consultant for the district for several months before applying for the full-time position.

“We were just thrilled that we could get a person of this quality so rapidly, and someone who knows the district so well,” said Doran.

Schultz said he hoped the business department will now be in a position to make the transition to a new data processing system that will help with budget decisions. The transition, planned since 2000, has been slowed dramatically by significant turnover in the business department, board members said.

Selawsky and Schultz said the decision to institute the ninth grade Critical Pathways program at Berkeley High School this fall was also a key decision.

The program, which seeks to stem the tide of ninth and 10th grade dropouts, identifies “at-risk” students, monitors their school attendance and provides extra help in reading and math.

Selawsky said the board has not passed final judgment on what may be the most controversial issue it has faced this year: small schools.

The board did decide, in its Dec. 19 meeting, to reject a proposal by the Coalition for Excellence and Equity, a community group, to divide Berkeley High School into a series of small, themed schools in the fall of 2003.

Instead, the board called for greater research into small schools models across the country.

Still, Selawsky said the eventual fate of small schools at Berkeley High is still very much up for debate.

Board Vice President Joaquin Rivera was out of town and unavailable for comment.

California matched its season low for points in a 64-48 loss to UCLA at Haas Pavilion, extending its losing streak to seven games.

On Dec. 2, Georgia defeated Cal, 54-48.

The loss dropped Cal’s record to 4-7 and 0-4 in the Pac-10 Conference. UCLA’s record improved to 4-8 (1-3).

Ami Forney led the Bears with 18 points and 10 rebounds for her 10th career double-double and third of the season. But the senior center had just three points and three boards at halftime.

Cal, which struggled against UCLA’s 2-3 zone, particularly in the first half, had just three points until the 7:27 mark, when Forney hit one of two free throws. Cal struggled from the perimeter all afternoon, making just 1-of-13 shots from three-point range. That one make, by LaTasha O’Keith, who scored 15 points, came with 3:09 left in the first half.

On a positive note, Cal outrebounded UCLA, 44-36. The Bears had been outrebounded by their last four opponents by an average of 13 per game. Cal also held UCLA to just 33.3 percent shooting from the field but itself shot just 30.4 percent for the game.

UCLA also forced the Bears into season-high 33 turnovers, to just 18 for the Bruins.

“UCLA came out and had a very good game plan against us,” Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer said. “They basically out-hustled us and beat us to balls. It was like, ‘Welcome to the Pac-10,’ in terms of their physicalness. They out-physicaled us, they out-hustled us, they out-played us and they deserved to win the game.”

Whitney Jones led UCLA with 13 points. Point guard Natalie Nakase led the Bruins with six assists and chipped in eight points, four steals and six turnovers.

UCLA led 19-4 at the 4:41 mark, only to see Cal storm back with a 14-4 run to end the first half, with UCLA leading 23-18. Cal’s O’Keith scored 10 points, including five from the free-throw line, during that run.

O’Keith added two more free throws as Cal crept back even more in the early moments of the second half to cut UCLA’s lead to 24-20. But the Bruins went on a run of their own, pouring in 21 points to eight for the home team to make the score 45-28.

The Bears recovered somewhat with seven-straight points to make the score 45-35 but could never get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

“My team did not give up, and I think that’s important,” Horstmeyer said. “We have to find a way to get back to the winning track. Rebounding was an issue [Friday] against USC. We outrebounded UCLA. We really worked on trying to fix that problem. We obviously have a turnover issue, and that’s the next problem that we need to fix.”

Cal takes a break from Pac-10 action as it journeys to the Bahamas for the New Year to compete in the Nassau Knockout. Cal plays Lipscomb on Jan. 4 and plays again on Jan. 5 against either IUPUI-Ft. Wayne or Bucknell. The Bears offense will get some help at the tournament with the expected return of freshman starting forward Leigh Gregory, who averaged 10.9 ppg through the first seven games of the season but missed the last four games with a knee injury.

I was interested in the Mosquito abatement article on Dec. 28. I have always wondered how come, here in Berkeley, we have so few mosquitoes in the summer and suspected the use of some heavy-handed abatement activities. While the article had some good information, it did disappoint me however. No where does it mention the procedures and chemicals (if any) used in the MAD activities except to mention the fish that eats the larvae in ponds. It also does not mention the most likely breeding sites in the city or its surrounding areas. I think the reporter should have addressed these issues in order for the public to be informed. We need to know how are we — over these many years — getting rid of the mosquitoes, and is the price worth it from an environmental and a public health aspect. A follow-up article would be much appreciated.

Law enforcement personnel in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey and San Mateo counties are gearing up for the final days of their campaign to combat drunken driving during the holiday season.

Since Dec. 14, officers in the four counties have arrested 1,457 people for driving under the influence.

The number of arrests in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo is up 2 percent but the total number of drunken driving crashes has dropped from 36 last year to 25 this year. In Monterey County, officers have arrested 45 more people this year compared to last year, but there were 12 DUI-related crashes, up from eight in 2000.

The anti-drunken driving campaigns in each of the counties finish at midnight New Year’s Day. Three-fourths of the total California Highway Patrol officers in those counties are on patrol until New Year’s Day.

For many reasons, 2001 will go down in history. For most of the year, David Horowitz campaigned on prominent college campuses, across America, against reparations for slavery. I believe Berkeley was one of the campuses he hit. Please, allow me one last word on this often-heated and controversial issue.

Since Sept. 11, not much has been written or said about reparations. When

the country was talking about it, most white Americans were vehemently against reparations of any sort. Hell, you mention a mere apology for slavery and their shorts got all knotted. In my opinion, I truly believe that if the U.S. government ever considers reparations, there would be another civil war.

Alas, since Sept. 11, this idea is even more far-fetched. I have a better idea. Instead of monetary reparations, lets do away with the Ku Klux Klan. For almost 150 years, the Klan has been known throughout the world for terrorizing and killing innocent black Americans. And since our president, George W. Bush, has declared a war on terrorism, the Klan should be at the top of his list. I wonder how many white Americans would object to this type of reparation?

Peace and love my fellow Americans, finally and perhaps forever, we are all in this together.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Police say a man burdened with debt and a history of petty crime killed his wife and three young children, ditched their bodies in the Pacific Ocean and then fled south to California.

Christian Longo, 27, is sought on four counts of aggravated murder related to the slaying of his entire family.

Longo was last seen in San Francisco on Dec. 26, according to District Attorney Bernice Barnett in Lincoln County on the Oregon coast, where the bodies were found. San Francisco police said they are aware Longo might be in the area, and citizens have called saying they might have seen the car authorities said he drove, but have no hard leads.

Barnett said she decided to issue the warrant Friday after police divers on Thursday pulled the corpses of Longo’s wife, Mary Jane Longo, 35, and 2-year-old daughter, Madison, from a marina near an apartment Longo had rented in Newport.

A week earlier, the bodies of his other two children were retrieved from a coastal inlet 14 miles south of Newport.

Barnett said Longo is still believed to be in the Bay Area in California and is considered dangerous.

“If in fact what we believe is true about what happened to his family, anyone has to be threatened by him,” she said.

The FBI has placed Longo on its wanted list because he is thought to have crossed state lines.

Longo, about six feet tall and blond, had a clean cut appearance and typically dressed in slacks, a dress shirt and leather jacket, according to neighbors in Newport.

At first blush a successful young man, police say in fact he faced a multitude of legal and financial problems.

Neighbors said Longo told them he held a high paying job with the Qwest telephone company, surveying for clients for high-speed DSL lines on the coast.

In fact, he worked at a Starbucks shop inside a Newport Fred Meyer grocery store.

Christian Longo lived alone in an upscale one-bedroom condominium overlooking the ocean in Newport and was visited by his children and wife, according to condominium employees.

“I heard his wife and kids walking in and out of the place,” said Todd Hecht, maintenance manager at The Landing.

“It was a normal, happy-go-lucky group. That’s why this whole thing is so baffling.”

The murders first came to light as when the unidentified body of a boy drifted ashore in Alsea Bay on Dec. 19.

Residents of a trailer park spotted the boy’s body, small and pale, floating about two feet from shore.

Police divers retrieved a second body three days later in the shallow bay, and the pair was identified by relatives as Zachary Longo, 5, and Sadie Longo, 3, on Christmas Eve.

The bodies of Longo’s wife and youngest daughter were taken from Yaquina Bay directly near The Landing condominium.

Longo, who owned a construction cleaning company in Michigan, has been named in six lawsuits seeking more than $30,000 and is wanted on two warrants in Michigan for probation violation and a charge of larceny by conversion.

He was convicted in October 2000 for forging $30,000 in checks from builders in Saline, Mich.

Longo also is wanted on a warrant in Washtenaw County, Mich., for missing meetings with his probation officer following that conviction, police said Friday.

LOS ANGELES – Gov. Gray Davis has successfully raised millions of dollars across the country for his re-election campaign, using the power of the nation’s most populous state like few politicians before him.

Davis, who has set a first-term fund-raising target of $50 million, has already raised $7.6 million from donors outside California who either have political or economic stakes in the Golden State, according to a report Sunday in the Los Angeles Times.

“That’s one of the differences between the governor of California and the governor of Wyoming,” said Garry South, the chief architect of Davis’ re-election strategy. “Nearly everyone is vested in California in some fashion or another.”

Among the largest donors, CitiGroup Inc. has given Davis at least $250,000. The New York-based company’s interests in California range from insurance regulation to privacy rights.

Telecommunications firm Verizon, also of New York, has donated more than $200,000.

“One thing that’s important to us is . . . maintaining a reasonable and good business climate in California,” said Peter Bear, head of state government affairs for 3M, the Minnesota-based firm that has given Davis $26,500.

“Raising money for governors has taken on a whole new importance after what happened in Florida,” said David Rosen, a Democratic fund-raiser in Chicago.

Republican Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida marshaled key support for his brother George W. Bush’s presidential campaign and the extended battle to declare a victor in the deadlocked state, he said.

“People understand what it means to be the governor of a state and how it can impact a presidential election in terms of political infrastructure, get out the vote and the communications process up and down a state,” Rosen said.

Of the nine most populous states in the nation, only California has a Democratic governor.

California is considered a crucial state for any Democratic candidate hoping to win the White House, which means the national party has a special interest in seeing Davis win re-election.

Davis also is benefiting from California’s reputation for setting trends and trying new policies, such as the patients’ bill of rights law Davis signed in 1999.

“As California goes, so goes the nation,” said Dennis Rivera, head of the Service Employees International Union in New York, which has raised more than $200,000 for Davis.

“He can do absolutely nothing for us,” Rivera said. “But he can set an example.”

Three Republicans are vying to take on the governor: Secretary of State Bill Jones, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon. The primary is in March and the general election is in November.

Davis has taken advantage of California’s leadership position to a much greater degree than his predecessor.

Republican Pete Wilson was considered one of the best fund-raisers of his day. In eight years, however, he collected only about $6.3 million from other states.

LOS ANGELES – An airplane preparing for takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport was evacuated Sunday morning after the airline received a phoned bomb threat, authorities said.

A bomb squad searched the plane and found no explosives, said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Officer Jack Richter.

The bomb squad and federal authorities were dispatched to LAX after the threat was called in at 6:52 a.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jerry Snyder.

ATA Flight 214 was bound for Chicago Midway with 184 passengers and seven crew members on board, Snyder said. It had been scheduled to depart at 6:35 a.m., but had not taken off when the threat was called in.

Snyder said the threat, made directly to the airline, did not refer to any specific flight.

“Apparently a male caller had called in a rather ambiguous question of whether or not there was a bomb aboard an aircraft,” Snyder said. It was not clear who the caller was or where he was calling from.

Flight 214 was grounded and evacuated as a precaution because it was the only ATA flight departing LAX at the time, Snyder said. “Without any further information, there won’t be any further expansion to check other flights,” he added.

Lisa Jacobson, public relations manager for American Trans Air Inc. in Indianapolis, said the airline would have no comment on the incident.

CAMARILLO – The 5-year-old Destino 2000 fund is nearing its goal of building a $400,000 endowment to assist Ventura County charities that serve the Hispanic community.

It is also leading the way as Latino-oriented funds attempt to establish long-term money sources, instead of immediately distributing the funds they raise.

Destino 2000 is one of just three funds in California established to aid nonprofit organizations that perform social work in Latino communities. The other two are the United Latino Fund in Los Angeles and the Hispanic Community Foundation in San Francisco.

The Hispanic Community Foundation has an endowment of $200,000, while the United Latino Fund aims to establish one.

Destino 2000 “has developed something like a model of what might happen in other communities,” said Henry Ramos, principal in New York-based Mauer Kunst Consulting, who has studied the emerging Latino funds.

The Ventura County Community Foundation, based in Camarillo, helped create and administers the fund, formally called Destino 2000: The Hispanic Legacy Fund.

Destino has distributed $187,000 to community groups that have served 9,000 children and adults, according to the organization. Reaching the $400,000 goal – a year earlier than expected – will guarantee that the fund grants at least $20,000 a year.

SAN JOSE – Throughout top San Francisco Bay area campuses, interest the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps is on the rise, according to cadets and recruiters.

Some involved with the program point to the events of Sept. 11 as galvanizing support for the Army ROTC as increased patriotism has brought with it a newfound respect for the military minded.

David Lavalle, a Stanford political science major and Army ROTC cadet, said the events of Sept. 11th have “given even more justification to what I’m doing.” Lavelle hopes his training and leadership skills honed during his time in the military program will help him the in the business world once he graduates.

“You are put in charge of people and you are held responsible,” Lavelle told the San Jose Mercury News. “The people under you and above you depend on you.”

Enrollment in the Army ROTC is at about 30,000 nationwide. That’s up nearly 5 percent from last year’s total. The Army ROTC program that serves students at Santa Clara University, Stanford and San Jose State University has 30 freshman cadets this year, the largest new enrollment in recent years.

Gary Hernandez Jr. turned down an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy for a chance to attend Stanford, but he didn’t lose the military bug entirely. He signed up for the Army ROTC.

Bay Area college campuses that once were less than welcoming to the military-in-training presence of the Army ROTC may have softened their stance a bit. Hernandez says his Cardinal classmates are no longer amazed that he plans to join the Army following his graduation.

“Some people still have the ‘ROTC-Nazi’ mentality, which is crazy. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Hernandez said. He said he hadn’t expected the new respect he’s received for the program in the days and weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Col. Gus Anderson, who runs the Army ROTC program, attributes the some of the bump in enrollment to incentive packages that help students pay for college.

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s shaping up to be a bad day at Black Rock for Burning Man.

The organizers of the counterculture extravaganza contend they are being fleeced by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management – and the dust-up shows no signs of abating.

The BLM oversees the Black Rock Desert, a sprawling tract of parched land in western Nevada that annually hosts Burning Man, an eight-day event culminating with the immolation of a 40-foot-tall stylized wooden figure.

To Larry Harvey, one of its founders, Burning Man is an attempt to create an urban culture based on the exchange of gifts rather than the circulation of hard currency.

Some call it a neo-pagan rite, others an extreme exercise in cooperative living. Still others simply consider it an excellent excuse to get naked and roll in the dust and mud with like-minded fellows.

No matter how you view it, it’s big. More than 25,000 people showed up last September, purchasing tickets for $135 to $250.

Not surprisingly, Burning Man is now a major business – albeit a nonprofit one – and that’s where the conflict begins.

Black Rock City LLC, the event’s administrative entity based in San Francisco, operates on an annual budget of $5 million, has a full-time staff of 11 and employs up to 300 people during the Burning Man event.

Black Rock City also annually endows about $250,000 to artist collectives for the exhibitions and “theme camps” that bloom on the alkali playa where the event is held each September.

But the organizers don’t get all the gate receipts. They have to pay hefty fees to the BLM – too hefty, they complain.

“We’re now assessed $4 per person per day,” said Harvey, the director and co-founder of Black Rock City. “Before 1999, we paid $2 – then it doubled. That’s a gross inequity.”

This year, the BLM took in $502,000 from Burning Man assessments. Under a special federal program, virtually all of the money goes back to the BLM district that manages the Black Rock Desert.

“But we’ve reached a point where we’re unwilling to raise prices because it would skew the demographic,” said Harvey.

Higher fees would assure that only wealthy people could attend Burning Man, said Harvey, and “that would be horrible. If anything, we want to broaden access, not restrict it.”

Harvey said BLM’s relationship to Burning Man “is parasitic. They siphon off any superfluity of cash that exists. BLM is supposed to facilitate recreational use of its lands, but their policies are impeding, not helping us. Burning Man is the biggest event on BLM land in the country. They should be proud of us – instead, they’re acting like they’re suzerains and we’re serfs.”

Yet Harvey said he understands what may be driving BLM to charge high fees.

“They’re a desperately under-funded agency, and I understand the dilemma they’re in,” he said. “Under a demonstration fee program set up by Congress, certain BLM districts get to keep all the money generated by special events held in their jurisdictions – and the Winnemucca district (which manages the Black Rock Desert) is one of them.”

Terry Reed, the field manager for the BLM’s Winnemucca Field Office, acknowledged that Burning Man has been a boon.

“It has definitely helped us financially,” said Reed, whose district covers 9 million acres and is managed by about 80 staffers. For the last event, “our receipts were around $500,000. After expenses – mainly processing and law enforcement – we had net revenues of about $250,000.”

Still, said Reed, BLM isn’t out to mulct Burning Man. The agency is required by law to use a set of specific criteria to assess fees, he said.

“Our fee structure is set nationally and applied throughout the West,” Reed said. “We can’t negotiate it. We can use either cost recovery or a fee schedule – but we have to use whichever is higher.”

Harvey isn’t satisfied with that argument.

“When they use regulations to raise revenues, they’re perverting the purpose they’re supposed to serve,” he said. “Basically, they now see us as a profit center. That being the case, they should be trying to encourage rather than throttle us.”

Reed observed that the Winnemucca office must address many constituencies – not just Burning Man attendees.

“Campers, hunters, rock hounds, hot air balloonists, even amateur rocketeers – a lot of people use the Black Rock Desert,” he said. “Some groups have criticized us for even allowing Burning Man. In fact, we’re involved in litigation involving a group that has appealed our decision to issue a permit (for Burning Man).”

No other group, however, can match Burning Man in revenues. If the event folds its tents and migrates to another site, the BLM’s Winnemucca office will feel a significant pinch come budget time.

“We realize we would have to go through some adjustment if Burning Man goes away,” said Reed. “But we need to stay neutral. We don’t try to promote the event. That’s not what we’re supposed to do.”

And leaving Black Rock doesn’t seem like much of an option to Harvey – no matter how hard Burning Man is squeezed.

The playa, he says, is essential to the event. The heat, the dust, the lack of water and amenities – all form a crucible where great art is created, deep connections are made and people undergo genuine spiritual transformations.

“Burning Man can’t exist without the playa,” he said. “We just need to make BLM understand we can’t sustain these fees. They’re crippling us.”

SAN FRANCISCO – A few months ago, California was a megawatt wasteland. As it finishes a tumultuous year, the state now has electricity in such abundance that fallen power giant Enron Corp. has come asking for leftovers.

The year began with rolling blackouts and concluded with state officials debating how to package $12.5 billion in bonds needed to cover power costs. In between, customers had their rates increase to among the highest in the nation.

“It’s been one helluva year, hasn’t it?” asked S. David Freeman, chairman of the state public power authority. “But I think if you can resurrect the situation in January and then look at it in December, you have to conclude that we’ve made a lot of progress.”

The state’s monthly electricity bill, which soared to nearly $2 billion in May, was down to $415 million in October. Efforts are underway to fix transmission glitches that plunged some parts of the state into darkness.

After analysts warned of frequent rolling blackouts, there were only six such episodes in 2001. And with natural gas prices falling, surveys show Californians have relegated energy issues to the back burner.

But California’s power problems are far from finished.

The state owes its general fund $6.1 billion for electricity it bought for three cash-strapped utilities. The largest of those utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric, went bankrupt in April. It took a secret settlement with the state to keep another, Southern California Edison, from following a similar path.

Meanwhile, claims that power companies unfairly drove up prices in 2000 and 2001 remain stalled before federal regulators.

And months after they first tried to agree, the state Public Utilities Commission, Gov. Gray Davis, Treasurer Phil Angelides and the Department of Water Resources still are discussing how they’ll persuade Wall Street to buy $12.5 billion in bonds to settle the power tab.

The delay costs the state $250,000 in interest each day, according to Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio.

The power crunch has become a budget crunch.

Power expenses, combined with the cost of defending airports and bridges against terrorist attacks and lost revenue from the stumbling high-tech economy, could mean painful cuts in state programs — including ones that reduce energy bills for the poor and elderly.

“No one is claiming victory over this thing,” Freeman said. “I think it’s 2003 before we start thinking we have the kind of surplus we need to have and we can relax.”

Whether prices soared because of market manipulation or old-fashioned capitalism remains a subject of debate, though federal regulators found one out-of-state power seller charged $3,880 per megawatt hour when entitled to only $273.

Yet, against all odds, the state generally managed to keep lights on — and the outlook for the future is brighter.

Electricity the state has bought since January for customers of those three utilities now costs $15 million a day, Freeman said, rather than the $100 million a day it cost earlier in the year.

Ten new power plants that together can generate enough electricity to power nearly 1.5 million homes are on line, according to the California Energy Commission.

And there’s a new appreciation of conservation.

By unplugging hot tubs, sweating through the summer with less air conditioning and buying hundreds of thousands of energy-efficient refrigerators, washing machines and lightbulbs, Californians conserved energy beyond anyone’s expectations.

“The biggest impact we’ve seen in the last year is just the conservation spirit in working together, reducing demand,” said Stephanie McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the state’s power grid manager.

Davis praises the more than 2 million Californians who reduced demand by slashing energy use by 20 percent this summer. Temperate weather and price caps on electricity ordered by federal energy regulators in June also helped.

The governor also is claiming credit, lauding his decision to sign long-term deals locking in prices for electricity. Those controversial deals will cost the state about $40 billion over the next two decades.

A variety of factors got California into its mess:

— Dry weather in the Northwest left hydroelectric dams with less water spilling through to create electricity, which California imports.

— Power companies unsure of California’s efforts to deregulate its electricity markets had stopped building power plants, while the population continued to grow.

— Transmission bottlenecks prevented the grid manager from sending electricity to the corners of the state when they needed it.

All these factors caused California to come up short during the busiest times of day, triggering dangerous power alerts last winter and spring. When the lights went out, they triggered fender benders, melted ice cream and stalled computer chip factories.

Faced with the prospect of more blackouts, lawmakers had little time to consider the big picture, said Sen. Debra Bowen, chair of the Senate Energy Committee.

“We never got a chance actually to look at what we wanted the electricity delivery system to look like,” she said. “Most of that had been determined for the next few years in the manner in which the state lurched from crisis to crisis.”

Critics say electricity never should have been deregulated under California’s flawed plan.

“Electricity is not a commodity,” said Pat Lavin, business manager and financial secretary for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers No. 47. “It’s a staple of life.”

Nevada halted its deregulation plans after California’s misadventure. Texas, home to some of deregulation’s most vocal backers, including the now-bankrupt Enron, is marching onward.

“I think it’s dead as a doornail in California,” Maviglio said. “The lesson learned from California is to go slow, not to deregulate as quickly as we did and make sure you have adequate supplies so you don’t have to depend on out-of-state owners.”

LOS ANGELES – Cars may be born in Detroit, but more and more these days they are conceived in California.

Increasingly, models manufactured in the United States, Japan, Sweden, Germany and elsewhere are springing from drawing boards under the golden California sun. The proliferation has earned the state the nickname “Detroit West.”

Ford, General Motors, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Daimler Chrysler, Porsche and other car companies all have major design centers here.

They have spawned cars including the Toyota Celica and several Volvo and BMW models. New concepts, such as the Chevy Borrego car/truck introduced at last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, came from design teams working in the state.

Auto makers cite various reasons for maintaining design centers in Southern California, ranging from the quality of the light to inspiration drawn from California’s car culture to the state’s importance as a major auto market.

In addition, many of the world’s top designers study at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, a major school for auto design.

“The people in Southern California have always shown a tendency to accept new things, new ways of looking at things,” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific Inc., an automotive marketing research and product consulting company. “A less risk averse consumer, great climate, a booming economy, great roads, access to talent — check all the boxes and this is a great place to be.”

Frank Saucedo, director of design at General Motors’ Los Angeles Advanced Design Center, takes his staff to hot rod meets at the parking lot of the Bob’s Big Boy restaurant in Toluca Lake to keep in touch with California’s rich car culture. He also visits furniture design centers in Los Angeles and soaks up new trends on the boardwalk in Santa Monica.

“The environment the designers are working in every day is very important,” Saucedo said. “It’s going to feed into what people do. Designers absorb a certain amount daily from their environment and put it into their designs.”

General Motors designers returned to California two years ago after leaving in 1996. Their new design center is located in an old bakery in an industrial-residential area of North Hollywood. Two turntables are being installed so designers can push cars outside to see how their work looks in natural light.

“When the sun just goes down, you get a couple of hours of California pinks, reds and blues you can’t get anywhere else,” Saucedo said. “It’s just a great light to design by.”

The Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center opened in Camarillo in 1986 and is responsible for radically altering the look of the Swedish car, rounding the traditionally boxy corners.

The center designed all the current large Volvo cars on the market, as well as a car that will make its debut next month at the Detroit Auto Show. Other vehicles with California influence will appear at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opens to the public later this week.

BMW DesignworksUSA sits in a modern complex in an office park in Newbury Park, about 45 miles north of Los Angeles in Ventura County. Christopher Chapman, design director for the BMW Automotive Group, said the main contribution his design center makes is to give decision makers in Germany another way of thinking about car design.

“Every company should have an outside viewpoint, something that’s going to give them a bigger, broader perspective,” Chapman said. “If you work at the mother ship, especially BMW, you can get really narrowly focused on what you’re doing. A lot of times there are holes that can be filled by satellite studios out there.”

Chapman said it’s difficult to precisely trace the influence California has had on car design.

“The mystery is best left a mystery,” he said. “You accept the idea that this is a great place. Be very grateful that it’s Dec. 18 and it’s 70 degrees outside and that’s the kind of stuff that can make people happy and do great work.”

California continues to grow in importance as an auto design center. The Hyundai Group, which owns the Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., recently broke ground on a new design center in Irvine.

Earlier this year, Ford’s Premier Automotive Group opened its North American headquarters in Irvine. The complex includes a new design center for its Lincoln Mercury brands.

Designers say they are most inspired by the diversity of the car market in California, the fact that Rolls Royces and Jaguars cruise side by side on freeway with 40-year-old Volkswagen Beetles and jacked-up pickup trucks.

Jan Washburn spends his days studying insects at UC Berkeley’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. He sits at a microscope or computer pondering the physiology of caterpillars, say, or the reasons why certain bacteria cause their stomachs to explode.

Once a month, though, Washburn wears a different hat. He drives down to Hayward to sit on the board of Alameda County’s least-known governmental agency.

For the last nine years, Washburn has been Berkeley’s representative on the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District’s board of trustees. He’s the man you can blame, if you are partial to the habit, when a bite from a female Diptera spoils an otherwise lovely evening.

The Mosquito Abatement District is an odd entity. Like the East Bay Regional Park District or AC Transit, the MAD is an independent district which doesn’t answer to the county Board of Supervisors or the state.

It has one purpose and one purpose only – to address all mosquito-related problems in the district. Members of its board of trustees are appointed by the city councils of each city in Alameda County.

“So long as we do our job, no one knows we exist,” Washburn says.

Mosquito districts appeared in California in 1915, when the state legislature passed the Mosquito Abatement Act. The act came at a time when malaria was endemic in vast regions of California, principally in the Central Valley, and was killing people and livestock alike.

Washburn says that before mosquito abatement, few settlers braved the dangers of the Central Valley.

“People don’t realize it, but mosquitos have played an important role in the spatial colonization of our state,” he says.

Today, the Alameda County MAD has a full-time staff of 13 and an annual budget of around $1.4 million, which is raised through a small property tax assessment.

The MAD’s primary function is to control the population of mosquitos and to monitor outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases like encephalitis. The district runs a number of programs designed to limit the mosquito population. It does outreach to local schools. It gives free mosquito-eating fish to people with ponds.

Every spring, district employees plant chickens around the county to serve as disease monitors. They draw the chickens’ blood every few weeks and send it off to a lab to be screened for mosquito-related illnesses.

Given that malaria has been all but eradicated and other mosquito-borne diseases are incredibly uncommon, some may wonder whether the district is obsolete.

John Rusmisel, MAD general manager, disputes the notion.

Rusmisel says that the district is currently facing two major challenges – the Asian Tiger Mosquito invasion and preparation for the West Nile Virus, which both he and Washburn say will almost certainly hit California eventually.

The Asian Tiger Mosquito has been hitching a ride across the Pacific on shipments of “lucky bamboo,” a newly popular houseplant coveted by practitioners of feng shui. Interior decorators adept at the ancient art-cum-religion hold that lucky bamboo brings its caretaker good fortune and prosperity.

Ever since the Asian Tiger – a “universal vector” renown for its nasty bite, according to Washburn – was found to infest the plant, extra controls were placed on its importation.

“It was only because of on-the-ball mosquito district workers that we realized this was a problem,” says Washburn.

The West Nile virus, which causes a particularly deadly form of encephalitis, could be an even greater threat. In the last few years, the disease has established itself in the Northeastern United States, where it has killed several elderly people.

Washburn says that the virus, which is carried by mosquitos and birds, will likely appear in California within the next few years. Birds from the East Coast and the West Coast spend their winters together in Central America – it’s just a matter of time, he thinks, before the virus hops over to our birds.

Rusmisel says that the district has been preparing for the arrival of the virus, and has drawn up rudimentary plans to combat it. And that, he says, shows the importance of mosquito abatement districts.

Not all areas, not even all urban areas, are covered by MADs. If you want to see what a city with no MAD looks like, says Rusmisel, you have but to look across the Bay to San Francisco.

“When West Nile comes, it’s going look just like New York City over there,” he says. “We’ll help them out, but we have to take care of ourselves first.

“It would be nice if they showed a little incentive.”

Washburn, too, gives the impression that areas without a MAD are little more than banes for those of us with one.

“Mosquitos don’t respect district borders,” he says.

He recalled an incident that took place a few years ago, when Rusmisel’s then-counterpart, Chuck Beesley of the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, suddenly found himself in the middle of a plague of Aedes squamiger, the winter salt marsh mosquito.

Hundreds of irate citizens called Beesley’s office, demanding that he deal with the problem. The only difficulty, Washburn said, was that these squamigers were breeding up in the North Bay and migrating inland to attack suburban Contra Costans.

“Boy, when that hit, Chuck was hurtin’,” Washburn laughs.

Washburn says he enjoys being involved in the district because it gets him out of the lab and allows him to “see how things are actually done.”

More than that, though, Washburn sees his nine years of mosquito-related public service as no more than his duty.

“It sounds corny, but I think I’m a good citizen,” he says. “I have some training that is useful to the district, so I employ it.”

Wednesday, Jan. 2

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

Peace Walk and Vigil

7:30 p.m.

North Berkeley BART Station

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. www.globalexchange.org.

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales

7 p.m.

Public Library, West Branch

1125 University Ave.

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270.

Rotary International President Speaks at Berkeley Rotary

noon

H’s Lordships Restaurant

199 Seawall Dr.

Richard King will speak about the importance of Rotary and the impact Rotary has on the community and the world. Everyone welcome. 549-4524.

Thursday, Jan. 3

California Desert Hikes

7 p.m.

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Steve Tabor will share slides and information on his favorite day hikes in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego and the Mojave. 527-4140

I really must respond to Michael Steinberg’s letter of December 24, in which he mocks the anti-bombing feelings of many of Berkeley’s citizens. While I might take issue with his questionable and certainly wishful list of benefits, I will restrict myself to a single one of his words – ‘direct’ – as in his ‘benefits’ being the ‘direct’ result of the bombings. Mr. Steinberg, I must correct you. Your wish list items are the indirect benefits of our country’s zealous pursuit of bin Laden. If the Taliban, when we made our demands of them, had handed over bin Laden and his people, and then perhaps had expressed a willingness to let Bush’s Texas cronies build a pipeline across their lands, we would now have photos of George standing alongside one-eyed Omar on the White House lawn, and the corporate press would be full of comments on ‘constructive engagement’ in place of their outrage over the plight of Afghan women. The Afghans were merely in the way; if any good comes to them from this war, it will be no more than an accident of our policy.

Now that I’m going, I should point out that, technically, what Barbara Lee refused to support was the granting to Bush of what she understood to be war-making powers constitutionally granted to the Congress. I believe that what you are thinking of is the Berkeley City Council vote which asked for a timely end to the bombing, which to my mind looks as wise now as it did then (a belated thanks to my own Councilwoman Linda Maio). The concern of those of us who find the bombing appalling are the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Afghan civilians, who were on the verge of starvation even before the war. The food and the trucks were ready to deliver what they needed to see them through the winter. Our ‘campaign’ disrupted that. A week into it, non-governmental organizations (Oxfam for example) were asking us to stop bombing so that they could get the food in; a month into it, the United Nations began making noises; while we were throwing our last bombs on Tora Bora, the Europeans were talking security forces to allow food to be delivered. But, other than our yellow-packaged propaganda, any humanitarian impulses we might have felt have been second to, and dependent on, the success of our military mission.

By starting this attack in the fall – rather than, say, in the spring – we wagered the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent Afghans, betting that we could pull this off and still get food to them. And those chips are still on the table. Maybe peace has come; maybe not. Maybe the Taliban will hold off on a guerrilla war; maybe the Northern Alliance warlords will keep from each other’s throats. Maybe the Afghan civilians will keep cheering this adventure. Or maybe not. But we won’t really know the result of our little gamble until the spring comes and the snows melt and the roads to inaccessible areas open again. Michael, I hope that you can gloat then, because the alternative is really neither thinkable nor excusable.

LOS ANGELES – Black communities around the world began a celebration of their African heritage Wednesday by lighting candles for unity – the first of seven principles honored during the week-long Kwanzaa festival.

Dancers and drummers in suburban Inglewood performed traditional African music to kick off the 35th annual observance of the holiday, which celebrates family, community and culture. Female dancers swayed in beaded tops, while men walked beside them playing drums with their hands.

“I think unity has a lot of significance to the world today, particularly with nine-eleven and the terrorist events that are going on,” said Kenneth Moore, owner of Inglewood’s Howling Monk Coffee House, which hosted the opening ceremony performed by the group Kwanzaa People of Color.

“I think it has a very, very powerful significance this year, along with the other values of Kwanzaa that will be celebrated through these seven days.”

More observances were to follow, including weekend parades and festivals, and a Dec. 31 feast.

Kwanzaa is an African-American and pan-African holiday which derives from the first harvest celebrations of Africa and was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, chairman of the Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. The word Kwanzaa is taken from a Swahili phrase meaning “first fruits.”

The holiday is now believed to be celebrated by 28 million people around the world, said Tulivu Jadi, assistant director of the African-American Cultural Center in Los Angeles. He stressed it is a cultural holiday that can be observed by people of any faith.

“It speaks to the best of what it means to be African-American and human in the fullest sense,” Jadi said.

Each day of Kwanzaa, participants celebrate a new principle. After unity come self-determination; collective work and responsibility; cooperative economics; purpose; creativity; and faith.

A candle is lighted each day in a candleholder called a Kinara. The final day, Jan. 1, is reserved for meditation and reflection.

Observers of Kwanzaa say they appreciate the contrast with more commercialized celebrations of Christmas, where spiritual reflection often seems to take a back seat to gift-giving.

“I think Kwanzaa is one of those kinds of celebrations that makes you focus more on principles and coming together,” said Kinikia Gardner, 26, as she watched the opening festivities in Inglewood.

Along with the seven principles, participants concentrate on five activities central to continental African “first fruit” celebrations: gathering of people to reaffirm bonds between them; reverence for the creator; commemoration of the past; recommitment to cultural ideals; and celebration of the good of life and existence.

“Kwanzaa is a celebration of our reality and identity,” said Brother Akile, chairman of Kwanzaa People of Color.

“Every Inch a King” Jan. 11 through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun

“Images of Innocence and Beauty” Through Jan. 8: An exhibit featuring Kathleen Flannigan’s drawing and furniture - boxes, tables, and mirrors, all embellished with images of the beauty and innocence of the natural world. Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison St.

“From With These Walls” Jan. 5: Educational studio opening celebration gallery show of student works in steel, bronze, aluminum, cast iron, glass, neon, ceramic, stone and paper; jewelry. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby St. (Entrance is one block south on Murray St.) 843-5511, fran@thecrucible.org.

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography. Wed, Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.

Jewish Community Center Jan. 14: 7:30-9 p.m., Emily Rose interweaves the family chronicle of her ancestors with the political and social events of the 18th and 19th centuries; Jan. 16: 7:30-8:30 p.m., Elizabeth Rosner will read from her debut novel “The Speed of of Light.” 1414 Walnut St.

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot by 40 foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821.

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lhs.berkeley.edu.

Ami Forney is the brightest light in what has been an up-and-down season for the California women’s basketball team.

The Golden Bears quiet co-captain led her team to a strong 4-0 start with fine individual play. But they have lost all five games since then, including losses to Arizona and Arizona State last weekend in the Bears’ opening Pac-10 trip. Forney scored 23 against the Wildcats and had her ninth career double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds against the Sun Devils.

After producing a strong junior season – in which she scored 10 points per game, grabbed 7.9 rebounds per game – the 6-foot-2 post player is following up with a pretty good senior one. So far, the Newark product leads the Golden Bears in scoring, with 15.3 points per game, and rebounding, with 6.2 boards per game.

“Her season is going very well,” Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer says. “She has really stepped up her offensive output and offensive intensity. Maybe the most beneficial thing to our team this year is she wants the ball. When she gets it, she’s going to score it. She’s been very tough to stop.

Normally a leader by example, Forney has had to be a bit more vocal now that she’s a co-captain and a senior.

“Ami was very, very quiet when she first got here,” teammate and fellow senior Janet Franey says. “She’s had to work on speaking with us. She has to motivate and encourage us, tell us things the coaches want us to know, which is hard sometimes. This year she’s much better at letting us know what we should be doing and pumping us up at halftime. I’m impressed she’s come out of her own shell.”

“Because a lot of people in my class aren’t here, that really forced me to step up a little bit more,” Forney says. “As far as my scoring goes, I’ve done a lot better. Freshman year, I was timid and always looked to pass. Scoring goes more with being more aggressive.”

One reason Forney gets most of the shots in the post is that Shavaki Jackson is no longer with the team. Jackson, a skilled center who came to Cal in the same recruiting class as Forney during the Marianne Stanley era, left the program when Caren Horstmeyer took over as head coach before last season. Forney and Franey are the only players left from their freshman class and are the only seniors on the current squad. Cal has nine newcomers, including freshman starters Kristin Iwanaga and Leigh Gregory, and the growing pains have been evident in the team’s recent play.

Forney hasn’t been discouraged by her team’s struggles of late, which have come in part because all the players are still getting used to each other.

“I’m real proud of our freshman, who’ve played big minutes and practice hard,” she says. “Some teams come to Cal thinking it’ll be an easy victory because we have lots of young people. Even though we’ve lost [five] in a row, the baskets will start falling and we’ll win, because of their hard work. They’re all willing to learn and all learning very quickly.”

“We’re encouraged by her leadership and play on the court,” Horstmeyer says of Forney. “Teams more talented than we are but don’t necessarily play as well as a team as we do.”

Cal has proven to be a strong rebounding and defensive team – the Bears have outrebounded six of nine opponents this year – but has to improve offensively, scoring just 59.9 ppg as a team so far. Of their five losses, the first four were by six points or less. Cal could have won each of those four but didn’t, partly because few players outside of Forney wanted the ball in crunch time. Gregory is Cal’s second-leading scorer with 10.9 ppg, but she missed the Arizona games with an injury sustained last week.

When Forney does get the ball late in games, opposing teams often double-team her, which raises the need for better outside shooting. Cal hopes freshman guard Jackie Lord, a good shooter who played in the Arizona games after sitting out the previous seven with an injury, should help alleviate defensive pressure on Forney.

“We need the guards to start hitting from outside,” says Franey, herself a 3-point specialist. “We feel bad people do that [double-team Forney] now. They know we’re going to her. We can’t just rely on her to do all our scoring.”

When she wants to get away from hoops, Forney turns to her other passion – photography. The sociology major is an aspiring portrait photographer who has taken photos of her teammates and of other Cal athletes. Forney put together a calendar of Cal men’s athletes for a project in a visual studies class. The calendar, of Cal ‘hot bodies,’ features bare-chested athletes including Brian Wethers, Charon Arnold, Dennis Gates and former Bear Sean Lampley. Forney received an A for the project.

“It’s a talent she has,” Horstmeyer says. “She knows how to get people to pose in the right position, to ultimately be a great picture.”

Of the calendar Horstmeyer says, “All I can tell you is it’s pretty good.” Horstmeyer is prouder of Forney’s play on the court. Cal’s second-year coach feels that Forney is proving that she can play professionally in the WNBA next year.

“I think that’s going to be whether Ami wants to do that or doesn’t want to do that,” Horstmeyer says. “That’s probably going to be Ami’s choice. I think she is [a pro prospect] because of her athleticism, her size. She’s a late developer in terms of the college game. The last couple years she’s been strong.”

They have encountered rain, hecklers and the scheduling nightmare of the holiday season. But for eight straight weeks, every Wednesday evening, a small group of North Berkeley neighbors opposed to the war in Afghanistan, has led a march for peace through the city’s streets.

“I firmly believe that war doesn’t solve the problem,” said Don Najita, a Berkeley resident and organizer of the weekly vigils. “Violence breeds violence.”

Organizers say they have drawn between 12 and 25 marchers in the past, although there were only seven in tow this week. The Christmas holiday may have been to blame for the low turnout, they said.

The group does not have a name or affiliation with a larger organization. “It’s just grassroots,” said Najita, “a bunch of residents who decided we wanted to do something public and express our discontent.”

The group has spread the word about its weekly vigils through posters, press advisories and postings on activist Web sites like www.indymedia.org and www.protest.net.

Organizers have also coordinated with other local peace groups, such as Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace, or LMNOP, an Oakland group that conducts vigils of its own on Sunday afternoons.

Ken Knudsen, an LMNOP member and long-time peace activist, attended this week’s Berkeley march. He said the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 are the result of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly the periodic bombing of Iraq in the wake of the Gulf War.

“We’re into this mess because of the bombing of Iraq,” he said, “and bombing Afghanistan isn’t going to help matters.”

Patrick Weseman, a veteran of the Gulf War who served as a yeoman with the United States Navy, focused on American foreign policy as well.

“I think the U.S. support of Israel is at the root of it,” Weseman said, discussing the causes of terrorism, “and the Persian Gulf War didn’t win us any friends.”

Protesters, who walked with candles and carried signs reading “war: your tax dollars at work” and “not my president/not my war,” received a warm response from most passers-by. Several drivers tooted their horns in support, and a number of pedestrians flashed the peace sign or offered words of encouragement.

Janet Cambra was walking along Sacramento Street when she encountered the group. An Oakland resident who works for Empower, a Berkeley-based company that raises money for progressive causes, Cambra was supportive of the march.

“I like it,” Cambra said, “but I wish there were more people.”

Oakland resident Andy Worthington passed the group on Shattuck Avenue and said he wasn’t surprised at the small number of marchers.

“I think it’s a sign of the times,” he said. “Berkeley, known for its activism, can only get about 10 people out.”

Some passers-by said they disagreed with the protesters and supported the war in Afghanistan. Worthington, for instance, said he is generally opposed to conflict, but feels it is necessary under the current circumstances.

Thomas Watkins, another Oakland resident on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley Wednesday night, said he sympathized with the protesters’ concerns around civilian deaths in Afghanistan, but thought they were unavoidable.

Najita said the protesters have encountered quite a few opponents during their vigils. Some have shouted obscenities, he said, some have bumped into protesters, and others, like Worthington, have simply said that marchers are wrong.

“Some people say we are preaching to the converted,” Najita said, referring to Berkeley’s reputation for anti-war liberalism, “but there are no converts out there now. It’s a different town.”

Karla Meek, another organizer of the weekly vigils, said the United States should have responded to the Sept. 11 attacks by gathering evidence against the perpetrators, and making a case in the international courts.

Meek admitted that the delays inherent in such a lengthy procedure might have created openings for further terrorism, but she said the United States can never hope to bring an end to terrorism.

“I think we can try to do as much as we can, but there will always be terrorists,” she said.

Najita emphasized that the pursuit of legal action, rather than war, is particularly important for a country like the United States that promotes the courts as a proper way to resolve conflict.

Najita said his group will continue to hold Wednesday night vigils for the foreseeable future. “That’s the point of a vigil,” he said, “to stick with it.”

The group meets at the North Berkeley BART station each Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Michael Steinberg’s letter makes some interesting points about some apparently positive results from the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan. In the short term, it may have been beneficial. The long-term effects remain to be seen. The situation there is complex and while the U.S. policy of demonstrating military might and prowess may lead to peace and prosperity, that is by no means certain.

To attack Barbara Lee because of her stance is not constructive. To stand against the mass stampede of Congress was an extraordinary act of civic courage on Ms. Lee’s part and I applaud it. Our country would be well served by a large number of people who dare to think independently.

“Black Hawk Down” – Producer Jerry Bruckheimer redeems himself for this year’s drippy debacle “Pearl Harbor.” And he can thank director Ridley Scott for that. The gritty, in-your-face film, based on the botched U.S. military mission in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, has all the scope and enormity of Bruckheimer’s earlier war extravaganza, but it plays like a documentary of disaster. Scott is relentless here; 90 minutes of the nearly 2 1/2-hour movie are nonstop gunfire. But the movie’s action is so compelling, it’s impossible not to be drawn in and emotionally drained. Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, William Fichtner and Sam Shepard lead the ensemble cast. R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language. 143 min.

“Charlotte Gray” – Director Gillian Armstrong seems to have taken her heroine’s surname to heart. An austere, neutral-tinted drama, “Charlotte Gray” has an ashen texture that rarely allows viewers to connect emotionally with the characters. In the title role, Cate Blanchett gives a fine technical performance yet is unable to light a flame in Charlotte, a Scotswoman who signs on as a spy in Vichy France during World War II. Likewise, co-star Billy Crudup is mostly inanimate as a French resistance fighter. What a shame to squander such talent; Blanchett’s subtle sensuality and Crudup’s charisma seem ideal for the adaptation of Sebastian Faulk’s espionage romance. PG-13 for some war-related violence, sensuality and brief strong language. 121 min.

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer

“I Am Sam” – A shameless weepy that aims for Oscar when it should have been a made-for-TV movie on the Lifetime channel. This story of a mentally retarded father fighting for custody of his 7-year-old daughter has its heart in the right place, but the approach is heavy-handed. Sean Penn immerses himself in the title role and is totally convincing – so much so that his manic energy becomes overbearing by the end. And as the high-strung lawyer helping in his custody battle, Michelle Pfeiffer is even more over-the-top. Director and co-writer Jessie Nelson has a major hanky scene for nearly every character, but is too politically correct to address the possibility that Sam’s daughter might be better off with a loving suburban foster mom, played by Laura Dern. PG-13 for language. 132 min.

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer

“Kate & Leopold” – If nothing else, this century-spanning love story simulates time travel quite effectively – you’ll feel like you saw it before you entered the theater. Which you did, sort of, because it conjures memories of past fish-out-of-water comedies where the hero discovers exciting new inventions like cars, toilets and television for the first time. Hugh Jackman plays Leopold, a charming English duke from 1876 who ends up in present-day Manhattan and falls for Kate (Meg Ryan), a high-strung marketing consultant. For a while it feels like Jackman is gifted and engaging enough to save the movie, but the timeworn plot and Ryan’s phoned-in performance make this a tough picture to like. You keep wishing Leopold would find a better woman – and a better movie. PG-13 for brief strong language. 117 min.

– Tim Molloy, AP Writer

“Monster’s Ball” – The characters in this movie are poor, alcoholic, racist, self-destructive. And just when you think their situations couldn’t possibly get worse, they do; the troubles pile up and become so ridiculously bleak, they’re almost comical. It’s all as overbearing as it sounds. But the performances from Billy Bob Thornton, as a Georgia death-row prison guard, and Halle Berry, as the widow of a man he’s executed, transcend the material. Berry does the best work of her career, though her much-discussed sex scene with Thornton is a bit too artsy. Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle and Sean Combs – as rapper “P. Diddy” likes to be known when he’s a Serious Actor – co-star. R for strong sexual content, language and violence. 108 min.

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer

“The Shipping News” – Lasse Hallstrom’s third literary adaptation in as many years follows the pattern of “The Cider House Rules” and “Chocolat,” presenting another overly bowdlerized yet fairly pleasing screen version of the source novel. Kevin Spacey stars as Quoyle, the passive loser of E. Annie Proulx’s beloved book, who ventures to his ancestral Newfoundland and uncovers secrets and finds inspiration that nudges him toward a proactive life and happiness. Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett co-star. While Hallstrom captures some of the book’s sense of repressed longing, much is lost in his oversimplified interpretation, which too often replaces subtlety with punch lines to impart a sunnier mood. R for some language, sensuality and disturbing images. 111 min.

“Black Hawk Down” – Producer Jerry Bruckheimer redeems himself for this year’s drippy debacle “Pearl Harbor.” And he can thank director Ridley Scott for that. The gritty, in-your-face film, based on the botched U.S. military mission in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, has all the scope and enormity of Bruckheimer’s earlier war extravaganza, but it plays like a documentary of disaster. Scott is relentless here; 90 minutes of the nearly 2 1/2-hour movie are nonstop gunfire. But the movie’s action is so compelling, it’s impossible not to be drawn in and emotionally drained. Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, William Fichtner and Sam Shepard lead the ensemble cast. R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language. 143 min.

“Charlotte Gray” – Director Gillian Armstrong seems to have taken her heroine’s surname to heart. An austere, neutral-tinted drama, “Charlotte Gray” has an ashen texture that rarely allows viewers to connect emotionally with the characters. In the title role, Cate Blanchett gives a fine technical performance yet is unable to light a flame in Charlotte, a Scotswoman who signs on as a spy in Vichy France during World War II. Likewise, co-star Billy Crudup is mostly inanimate as a French resistance fighter. What a shame to squander such talent; Blanchett’s subtle sensuality and Crudup’s charisma seem ideal for the adaptation of Sebastian Faulk’s espionage romance. PG-13 for some war-related violence, sensuality and brief strong language. 121 min.

– David Germain, AP Movie Writer

“I Am Sam” – A shameless weepy that aims for Oscar when it should have been a made-for-TV movie on the Lifetime channel. This story of a mentally retarded father fighting for custody of his 7-year-old daughter has its heart in the right place, but the approach is heavy-handed. Sean Penn immerses himself in the title role and is totally convincing – so much so that his manic energy becomes overbearing by the end. And as the high-strung lawyer helping in his custody battle, Michelle Pfeiffer is even more over-the-top. Director and co-writer Jessie Nelson has a major hanky scene for nearly every character, but is too politically correct to address the possibility that Sam’s daughter might be better off with a loving suburban foster mom, played by Laura Dern. PG-13 for language. 132 min.

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer

“Kate & Leopold” – If nothing else, this century-spanning love story simulates time travel quite effectively – you’ll feel like you saw it before you entered the theater. Which you did, sort of, because it conjures memories of past fish-out-of-water comedies where the hero discovers exciting new inventions like cars, toilets and television for the first time. Hugh Jackman plays Leopold, a charming English duke from 1876 who ends up in present-day Manhattan and falls for Kate (Meg Ryan), a high-strung marketing consultant. For a while it feels like Jackman is gifted and engaging enough to save the movie, but the timeworn plot and Ryan’s phoned-in performance make this a tough picture to like. You keep wishing Leopold would find a better woman – and a better movie. PG-13 for brief strong language. 117 min.

– Tim Molloy, AP Writer

“Monster’s Ball” – The characters in this movie are poor, alcoholic, racist, self-destructive. And just when you think their situations couldn’t possibly get worse, they do; the troubles pile up and become so ridiculously bleak, they’re almost comical. It’s all as overbearing as it sounds. But the performances from Billy Bob Thornton, as a Georgia death-row prison guard, and Halle Berry, as the widow of a man he’s executed, transcend the material. Berry does the best work of her career, though her much-discussed sex scene with Thornton is a bit too artsy. Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle and Sean Combs – as rapper “P. Diddy” likes to be known when he’s a Serious Actor – co-star. R for strong sexual content, language and violence. 108 min.

– Christy Lemire, AP Entertainment Writer

“The Shipping News” – Lasse Hallstrom’s third literary adaptation in as many years follows the pattern of “The Cider House Rules” and “Chocolat,” presenting another overly bowdlerized yet fairly pleasing screen version of the source novel. Kevin Spacey stars as Quoyle, the passive loser of E. Annie Proulx’s beloved book, who ventures to his ancestral Newfoundland and uncovers secrets and finds inspiration that nudges him toward a proactive life and happiness. Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett co-star. While Hallstrom captures some of the book’s sense of repressed longing, much is lost in his oversimplified interpretation, which too often replaces subtlety with punch lines to impart a sunnier mood. R for some language, sensuality and disturbing images. 111 min.

On April 6, when the city is scheduled to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated, 70-year-old Central Library, the project will be 17 months late and an estimated $5 million over budget.

Berkeley Public Library Director Jackie Griffin and Manager of Capital Projects John Rosenbrock said there are fairly reasonable explanations for the some of the added costs, which will be repaid, in part, by interest earned from the voter-approved bond that funded the renovation.

But they said other costs related to the long delay are primarily the responsibility of Arntz Builders, the project contractor. Citing poor management and under-staffing of the library construction site at 2090 Kittredge St., library officials said Arntz has been working on the project months past an October 2000 projected completion date.

“It’s not unusual to have projects of this size go beyond their completion dates,” Rosenbrock said. “But no one plans for this amount of delay. I would describe this as unusual.”

Rosenbrock quickly pointed out that the 17-month delay is not entirely Arntz’s fault. He said some of the delay was due to the library expanding the project after bids had been submitted and the discovery of a serious problem with the foundation of the building adjacent to the structure. Also, asbestos found in the library building had to be removed.

Rosenbrock said library representatives allowed for those delays and moved the completion date forward nine months to July 2001.

When Arntz was unable to complete the project by the July date, the library exercised a clause in the contract that allowed for withholding money for “liquidated damages.”

In fact, the library has been withholding $90,000 a month from the contractor since July. These funds help pay for the rent on the temporary Central Library on Allston Way, temporary administrative offices on Kittredge Street and the storage of furniture, books and other equipment at various facilities. Currently the overall monthly project costs, including rental of alternate facilities, is estimated at $120,000.

Griffin said that after the project is completed, Arntz and the city will have to sit down and negotiate how much of the liquidated damages withholdings the library will be able to keep.

“The way it usually goes is that we will argue the delays are the contractors’ fault and the contractor will dispute that and say we caused the problem by changing the project plans,” Rosenbrock said.

Arntz Builders, which also won the bid for a $36 million Berkeley High School project known as the “Milvia Buildings” – a project that is currently two months behind schedule – did not return calls from the Daily Planet on Thursday.

Measure S

In 1996 voters narrowly approved Measure S, which provided a $49 million bond that will be paid with city property taxes. Thirty million dollars of the bond was designated for the Central Library project and the remainder was to help fund the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center renovation project and downtown streetscape improvements.

However, from the time the bond was approved to the time the actual library renovation bids began coming in two years later, the Bay Area was in the midst of a construction boom as a result of a strong economy. The result was a renovation budget that began to increase.

“The construction market was highly competitive,” Rosenbrock said. “Contractors were overbidding because they had more work then they really needed.”

The city was bound by the charter to accept the “lowest and most responsible bid,” which happened to be from Arntz Builders.

When the city awarded the contract to Arntz in April 1999, the cost had risen to $33 million from increased construction costs and library project additions such as refurbishing of the stenciled ceilings in the history room and the creation of light fixtures based interior photographs taken in 1931.

The budget was further expanded by the unexpected weakness of the foundation of the building adjacent to the library. “It had a brick foundation which is much less stable,” Rosenbrock said. “That had to be reinforced, which was delayed because of unusually rough winter weather.”

City Budget Manager Paul Navazio said the good news about the project cost is that the $30 million bond generated $2.2 million in interest, which will go back into the project budget.

In addition the City Council approved a loan of $1.2 million to the project to help fill funding gaps.

According to Board of Library Trustees member Kevin James the loan will be paid back from the library’s annual budget, which comes from a special property tax approved by voters in 1980. Currently the tax raises about $8.5 million annually.

“That money could have gone to other library projects,” James said. “Is it going to hurt us? The answer is yes.”

The new Central Library

When the Central Library reopens in April, it will have been expanded from 50,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet. In addition to being seismically upgraded, the library will have three times more space for the children’s section, an a expanded arts and music section, new meeting rooms and a new history room.

In addition, the library will have much of its original interior work and furnishings, all of which have been repainted, refinished and refurbished.

On Thursday all of the frustrations from delays and cost overruns seemed to melt away for Griffin as she walked through the building gingerly stepping around power tools, stacked slabs of concrete flooring and workers busily putting the finishing touches on the building interior.

“Now, every time I come over here it’s like Christmas because another project is completed,” she said from under a white hard hat with her title emblazoned across the front. “We have even begun to bring some of the books out of storage and put them on shelves.”

Michael Steinberg’s use of the lowest form of humor, sarcasm, rather pathetically fails (letters,12/24). First, we have reinstalled the Northern Alliance to power, the same group of thugs who misruled that country from 1992-96 and killed 100,000 people. They were responsible for bringing the Taliban wackos to power in the first place. So it’s premature to be celebrating anyone’s liberation, much less any rebirth of Afghan art, etc. Secondly, according to Professor Mark Herrold of the University of New Hampshire, we have killed at least 4,000 Afghans through our bombing, more than perished at the WTC atrocity. There is no end in sight on this war, there are elements in the Bush Administration who favor extending this to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan and other countries. I am a libertarian who would not vote for Barbara Lee for dogcatcher but I do salute her on this one vote. Normally libertarian Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is on the losing side of 420-1 votes in the House. Don’t worry too much about civil liberties, Mr. Steinberg, if this war continues there will be few to worry about.

The California Coastal Commission has announced its fourth annual Amateur Photography Competition for 2002.

The contest is to pay tribute to the resources the commission is mandated to protect - California’s 1,100 mile coastline.

The California Coastal Commission was established by voter initiative in 1972 (Proposition 20) and made permanent by State Legislature in 1976 with the California Coastal Act.

Entrants are encouraged to submit photos in the following categories: the scenic coast, ways people use the coast, and coastal wildlife. Photographs that document coastal resources protected by Coastal Commission action, including public beaches, public accessways to beaches, agricultural land, or wetlands are especially encouraged. The photographs must be in color and taken from a public place.

Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2002. For complete guidelines and entry forms go to www.coastal.ca.gov, or call 800-262-7848.

I hope the City Council and the people of Berkeley have enjoyed their Christmas.

I’ve seen the resolution of the council that condemns our action in Afghanistan and now I read where your fair city is going to give help to anyone who wishes to avoid the draft, if it’s started.

Today thousands of men and women of our armed services are putting their lives on the line, so that all of us may enjoy our freedom to have a Merry Christmas.

I have to ask myself though, what kind of people are you? You are so willing to let others go out and die to provide you with the freedom that you take so much for granted.

I have to ask, how can some of you can look in the mirror each morning knowing that you are willing to let other people die for your freedom and not care. In fact you protest the very actions that are keeping you free. If you find nothing you are willing to fight for. Nothing that you care about, then your own safety. Yet you are willing to let better men and women die for your freedom, then you are a miserable lot that will NEVER be free. Yet you wonder why other people in the USA hold the city of Berkeley in such contempt.

Bob Tanguay,

Brandenburg, Kentucky

Editor’s note: the resolution in fact does not condemn the bombings but calls for the cessation of bombing as soon as possible.

SAN JOSE – Doctors scrambled to stabilize about a dozen patients after power went off Thursday evening at a San Jose hospital.

The lights went out at Good Samaritan Hospital shortly before 7 p.m. when a backup generator failed after it kicked on because the surrounding area had already gone black, according to Pacific Gas and Electric.

Doctors and nurses struggled to help two patients in operating rooms — including one woman who was having a Caesarean section — and about another 10 in the intensive care unit, said fire department Sgt. Mark Mooney.

“It was pretty bad for a moment,” Mooney said.

The hospital prepared ambulances to transport patients to nearby hospitals, but fire officials were able to target emergency backup power to critical areas of the hospital, Mooney said.

No one was moved and none of the patients suffered, he said. In fact, a girl was born under emergency lights firefighters had wheeled in.

By 8 p.m., power was restored to the hospital, though not to 2,200 customers in the area southwest of downtown San Jose, PG&E spokeswoman Maureen Bogues said. The cause of the outage was not immediately known.

SAN FRANCISCO – In California, where the car is king, the roads are hardly fit for royalty.

The state ranks last in the nation in per capita spending to fix its roads, which rank first in the nation for being the most dilapidated, according to a study by a transportation advocacy group released Thursday.

More than a third of the state’s 168,000 miles of road are rated “poor” by the state, according to the report by The Road Information Program, which it completed for another transportation advocacy group, Transportation California.

The TRIP analysis of 2000 information from the Federal Highway Administration found that 37 percent of California’s roads were rated poor. By comparison, none of the roads in top-ranked Georgia had that rating.

While the Federal Highway Administration doesn’t break down per capita spending on roads, TRIP said its analysis of data found that California spent only $82 per person on maintenance. According to the report, the bottom five also included Illinois, which spent $94 per capita; Michigan, which spent $106; Minnesota, which spent $108; and Ohio, which spent $109.

TRIP would not release the entire state breakdown of per capita spending, saying states were sensitive about the information.

The report looks at interstates, freeways, major state roads and arterial roads, which are the major roads of a community, said TRIP research director Frank Moretti.

Some government transportation officials were skeptical about the analysis, but Moretti said the study used data gathered by states using the same model.

Larry Fisher, executive director of Transportation California, said a decades-long trend of underfunding road maintenance needs to be reversed to accommodate the predicted explosion in the number of drivers on California’s roads.

“We have a once-great system that has just worn out because we haven’t made the investment to maintain it,” he said. “This takes a terrible toll on motorists.”

But Dennis Trujillo, of the state Department of Transportation, said the state is turning that around, dedicating about $1 billion a year to maintenance and repairs. Cities and counties received an additional $400 million last year for maintenance as part of the state’s Congestion Relief Program. The state currently has $6 billion in general road improvements under way.

“This governor has reversed a trend of 16 years of disinvestment in transportation,” he said. “I believe our system is second to none, but there’s room for improvement.”

Of the 168,000 miles of road the study looked at in California, the state Department of Transportation owns and maintains about 48,000. The rest are owned and maintained by cities and counties.

The study said that the miles traveled on California’s roads increased 97 percent from 156 billion to 307 billion miles between 1980 and 2000, and that is expected to increase by another 63 percent by 2025.

Proponents of Proposition 42, which is slated for the March 5 ballot and which would use sales tax from gasoline sales for road maintenance, used the study to bolster their position. The study recommends passage of the measure to pay for repairs.

Currently, repairs for local roads are paid using money from state and federal gas taxes, which are different from the gas sales tax. Repairs for state roads also are paid through the state gas tax. Money from the gas sales tax currently goes into the state’s general fund, where it is divvied up for various purposes.

The report said that if the state puts off improving roads, it will just cost more in the long run — for motorists and government. According to the report, drivers in the state pay an average of $558 per person each year to fix damage caused by driving on bad roads. If the state fixed just 20 percent of roads rated poor and mediocre, it could save motorists $215 each year, the study said.

The report also found that three of every 10 bridges in the state is structurally deficient, which means they have significant wear but aren’t in any immediate danger of collapse, Moretti said.

DOJ’s spokeswoman wasn’t familiar with CJIC, but was certain it wasn’t the same thing as CATIC.

CATIC is the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center. It’s run by the DOJ – the California Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who set it up after Sept. 11 to gather intelligence and assess terrorism threats.

CJIC has a similar name: the California Joint Information Center. But it’s run by OES – Gov. Gray Davis’ Office of Emergency Services. It’s supposed to be a “one-stop shop” for reporters looking for information from 14 different agencies on terrorist incidents.

OES’ S-TAC has some of the same mission as CATIC. The State Threat Assessment Committee also is supposed to gauge terrorist threats and the state’s response. It’s a subgroup of SSCOTT, the State Strategic Committee on Terrorism, set up by Davis in 1999.

Got all that?

Other states set up anti-terrorism task forces after the Sept. 11 attacks, but nothing like the “alphabet soup” in California, said Larry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism chief and now a private counterterrorism consultant.

“It’s important to be prepared to deal with an attack, but now we’re going into terrorism overkill,” Johnson said. Politicians and bureaucrats have discovered that attaching the word “terrorism” to anything is like the old E.F. Hutton commercials, Johnson said: “People stop and listen.”

There also is a California Emergency Organization (CEO) and a California Emergency Council (CEC) that approved the California Terrorism Response Plan (CTRP) that in turn is part of the California State Emergency Plan (CSEP) within the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS). They replaced the Nuclear Emergency/Terrorism Response Plan of 1991 and are designed to be used with the Local Planning Guidance On Terrorism Response and Hazardous Materials Incident Contingency Plan.

The California Emergency Organization “is not a familiar phrase to me, and I’ve been with OES a year,” confessed one employee. “SSCOT and S-TAC – I kind of get those confused sometimes.”

Davis’ new special security adviser, 23-year FBI veteran George Vinson, said he was hired in part to filter all the information that was flowing to the governor from CATIC, OES, CHP (the California Highway Patrol), the National Guard and other state, local and federal agencies.

“The fact is each of them has a role to play,” Vinson said. “They don’t overlap each other, but there is some redundancy and that can be a good thing. Down the road there may be a need to combine a few functions.

“We’re kind of defining this as we go along. We’re going to probably streamline some and broaden others, but that’s one of the things I was brought on board to do further down the line.”

Lockyer has already spent as much as $5 million to operate CATIC, and estimates it would cost $12 million a year to keep a fully functioning center running, said spokeswoman Hallye Jordan.

He’s using money shifted within his own budget while seeking federal and state funding in addition to $350,000 CATIC already received from the governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning, she said.

CATIC currently has 50 DOJ employees in the center, plus 16 analysts and investigators from allied agencies like the CHP, OES, National Guard, Department of Corrections, U.S. Coast Guard and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Department of Transportation, California Department of Motor Vehicles, FBI, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also expect to send liaisons, Jordan said.

In addition, there are six CATIC task forces based in Sacramento, San Francisco, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Fresno, each with one supervisor, two agents and two analysts from the Justice Department, one CHP officer, and a varying number of local and federal law enforcement officers.

CATIC headquarters has a 10-person “group analysis unit” to track and investigate specific international and domestic terrorist groups – not only religious or anti-government groups, but anti-abortion or animal liberation extremists as well, Jordan said. Many of those groups were already under investigation before Sept. 11, she said.

CATIC also has a “situation unit” made up of eight Justice Department and six representatives from allied agencies who can provide instant support for investigators and regional task forces, Jordan said.

SSCOT and S-TAC are “sort of virtual organizations,” said OES spokeswoman Sheryl Tankersley. The 40 core members of SSCOT are drawn from the FBI, CHP, DOJ, OES and National Guard; they and the smaller S-TAC group generally consult over a secure conference call when there is a threat, with other officials added as needed, depending on the nature of the threat.

SSCOT, augmented by dozens of local state and federal law enforcement, fire, health and other officials, was given a higher profile role by Davis after Sept. 11. He asked the group to make recommendations on improving the state’s terrorism response, and has since instructed the group to oversee some of those changes.

The groups have no specific budget and draw staff from other agencies, drawing what money they need mostly from a $666,000 annual grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tankersley said. About half the grant goes to their needs, the other half to terrorism training classes offered to emergency workers through the California Specialized Training Institute.

This time of year, when sunlight is at a premium, it’s important to have good interior lighting. While meeting special situations, such as highlighting an art collection, it’s wise to be savvy in covering the basics, too.

Mix sources for living and family rooms. For relaxing or watching TV, general lighting from indirect sources -- wall washers, uplights and recessed fixtures – is best. For hobbies, reading and homework, task or local lighting – downlights, spotlights and table or floor lamps – work well. Fixed spotlights can emphasize art over the mantel.

Give dining rooms flexibility. In addition to over-table light from a chandelier or other ceiling lights, add a cozy glow by placing other accent lights around the room. Dimmer switches can soften the mood of a too-bright chandelier. Highlight artwork with a picture light, tuck a floor canister behind a plant in a corner, or brighten built-in shelves or a hutch with a plug-in shelf light from a home center.

Light kitchens for efficiency. In addition to general light usually provided by ceiling or track lights, place task lights to beam where you work, such as under cabinets and above cooking centers.

Add task lights to bedrooms and baths. A dimmer switch for mood control works well in the bedroom. In nurseries and young children’s rooms, avoid halogen lights, which produce heat. Remember, too, that ceiling or wall fixtures are safer than table lamps around youngsters.

Use creative accent lighting. It can give a whole new look to your artwork, furniture groupings, or an interesting architectural detail. Rule of thumb: Lighting that’s meant to accent objects should be at least three times brighter than the room’s general lighting.

To spotlight your favorites, try these tips:

• Experiment first. Use clamp-on lights fitted with spotlight bulbs, and try them in different locations to find the best spot.

• Limit your costs. Strip lights to enhance groupings of books or collectibles cost less than $20 at many home centers.

• Corral the cords. For safety and appearance, run cords along the baseboards or behind furniture.

• Choose the right directions. Light groups from the front or above. With picture lights, for example, angle the light toward the picture, not down on it, to minimize glare.

• Be flexible and creative. A desk lamp with pivoting head can spotlight when it’s not being used for a homework project. Or, for mood lighting, plug table lamps into a dimmer switch.

This do-it-yourself project is pretty easy to do and can actually make your home safer a lot safer. We were once paid $55,000 to partially rebuild a fire-damaged condominium that had exploded into flames when a short circuit occurred in a frayed lamp cord. Fortunately, the owner was away at the time and was not injured. But, she lost just about everything she owned, family photos, personal records, memorabilia, her wardrobe, furniture, clothing everything.

Ensuring that electrical appliances are in good condition is important. And, repairing a frayed appliance cord is a good way of doing your share to ensure home safety. On the other hand, when it comes to working on electrical appliances, there can be dangers especially if you aren’t careful. For example: If you replace a lamp cord with undersized wire, overheating can occur and a fire can result.

Other simple mistakes can be disastrous too. As you make the electrical repairs that we suggest, be sure that all connections are tight and snug. A loose electrical connection can promote arcing and a fire can result. Lack of proper insulation between the electrical contacts and the surrounding metal socket housing can result in a short circuit that can ultimately cause a fire.

Doing these kinds of repairs are important, but you should be acutely aware of the importance of being extremely careful when working with electric appliances. It’s easy to prevent an electrical repair from backfiring once you realize what things can go wrong. So, read on and learn another trick or two.

With a lamp there are two parts that are known to wear out occasionally and which must occasionally be replaced: the cord and the light bulb socket.

Replacing a light bulb socket and switch is easy. Don’t try to repair just the switch. You won’t save any money, and it may even cost more. Also, it doesn’t make any difference which style switch you select. There are three basic types to choose from: pull chain, push-push, and twist.

Keep in mind that a switch is a switch is a switch and when it comes to “which type,” we suggest that you be the judge. There is, however, another consideration when selecting a switch. That is whether it simply goes on and off or provides low and high intensity on positions. Some folks call it a “three-way switch,” probably because it has three positions: off, on low and full on. The wires are connected in exactly the same way regardless of which switch you choose. But, the three-way is a little more expensive than the standard type. Also, if you select the three-way switch you guessed it you also will have to provide the more expensive three-way bulbs.

Once you have decided on which switch you will use, the hardest part of the job is over. Now it’s time to begin disassembling the lamp. Most lamps are built pretty much the same way. Quarter-inch threaded tubing travels from the base of the light socket to the bottom of the lamp. The tubing screws into the socket at the top end of the lamp and relies on a nut and washer at the bottom end to hold the entire lamp together kind of like a multi-piece totem pole. Often, a layer of felt conceals the connection at the bottom of the lamp. During the repair don’t discard the felt. It not only conceals the connection, but also prevents the lamp base from scratching your table.

There can sometimes be several pieces between the socket and the bottom of the lamp. We sometimes see lamps in as many as a dozen pieces. Although there are usually only one or two sections, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to photograph your lamp before you take it apart just in case.

Caution: Don’t begin until the lamp has been unplugged and the bulb and lampshade have been removed.

If you intend to replace the cord as well, carefully remove the felt cover from the base of the lamp. Use a razor blade to help peel it off. This will expose a threaded tube with a nut on the end through which the lamp cord travels. If you do not intend on replacing the cord please skip the previous step.

To replace the socket, remove the setscrew at its base. Then, use a screwdriver to pry the socket shell from the base cap. Simply wedge the screwdriver into the seam between the two pieces and gently pry. With the outer shell out of the way remove the cardboard insulation sleeve to expose the two electrical connections. One will be copper colored (the darker of the two) and one will be silver colored (the lighter of the two). Loosen both screws and release both wires.

You can now unscrew the base cap from the threaded rod. At this point, if you are replacing the cord, pull it out of the lamp. Disassembly is now complete.

To make the repair, all you have to do is reverse the disassembly process. Keep in mind that the wire lamp cord must be carefully reconnected. The wire that attaches to the silver post is the neutral side of the connection. The neutral wire on a lamp cord is identified along its entire length, usually by ribs, indentations or square corners on the insulating jacket. And, that’s all there is to it.

Red, white and pink varieties simply aren’t enough anymore. Greenhouses are coming out with a palette of new colors, many developed in Southern California and bearing names such as Plum Pudding, Strawberry and Cream, and Cortez Burgundy.

University of Florida poinsettia specialist Jim Barrett says he is increasingly seeing buyers who want poinsettias with a different look to coordinate with the home decor.

“Breeders have come up with many different colors and forms,” Barrett said. “Now we can take consumers into a greenhouse and they can see a lot of variation in the way poinsettias look. Most of the excitement now is with the new and different stuff.”

The colorful “flowers” of the poinsettia are not really flowers at all. They are bracts — modified leaves that change from green to other colors. The actual poinsettia flowers resemble small yellow balls in the center of the bracts.

A variety known as “Plum Pudding,” available to retailers for the first time this year, has been a huge success, Barrett said. It has purple bracts to blend with the growing use of purple and silver in Christmas decorations.

In the “Strawberry and Cream” variety, the first bracts are strawberry pink and later ones have streaks of cream color.

One of the popular new varieties, available commercially for the first time this year, is the “Winter Rose,” with red bracts that curl into the shape of rose petals.

Vickie Collins, owner of the Lawn Barber Nursery near Albany, said she stocked a few of the rose variety this season and they quickly sold out.

“We expect to do more next year,” said Collins, the leading poinsettia grower in the Albany area. Collins grew 8,000 poinsettias this year for churches, businesses and homeowners, and had only 300 left a few days before Christmas.

Barrett said consumers rate the new colors and varieties very highly in surveys.

The University of Florida is the nation’s main test site for poinsettia varieties and recently hosted a variety trial demonstration that featured 115 types.

Many of the new varieties have been developed by the Paul Ecke Ranch of Encinitas, Calif., north of San Diego. The 75-year-old company is one of five major poinsettia breeders in the world — two in the United States and three in Germany.

The ranch has produced more than 65 varieties that are sold to growers throughout North America. The Ecke poinsettias range in color from dark red to purple to champagne.

It was the Ecke family that successfully promoted poinsettias as Christmas flowers by featuring them on the sets of popular televised Christmas specials in the 1960s and 1970s, and by promoting them in consumer and gardening magazines.

“By the mid-1970s, poinsettias were pretty well looked upon by the general public as being a Christmas plant,” Barrett said. “It was their marketing effort that did it.”

U.S. growers produce 75 to 80 million poinsettias a year, worth about $250 million. Poinsettias are the favorite flower for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s celebrations and the nation’s top-selling potted flower.

“Early demand was greater than normal this year,” Barrett said. “With the economy slow, we believe retailers were trying to create a shopping atmosphere. Retailers were trying to foster that good feeling on the part of their customers.”

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – Mention of a rock garden evokes images of plants against a background of stones. But stones also have a dramatic mystique and beauty suited for solo performances of their own.

Contrast the emphasis on the flower in Wordsworth’s, “A violet by a mossy stone half-hidden from the eye,” to James Merrill’s perception that it was useless to try to name the many “forms numbed in one small rock.”

The Japanese are renowned for creating rock gardens, even tiny ones made of just a stone or two and gravel. A touch of moss, perhaps, to bring in some sense of life. Either way, they inspire meditation.

In New York and New England, what once was a backbreaking farmer’s hell of stones has now become a paradise of stone fences enhancing the landscape. Anyone owning a little land is likely to boast a fence, or part of one, maybe dating back to colonial times.

In her fine book “Sermons in Stone,” (W.W. Norton & Co., 1990) Susan Allport cites a 19th century estimate that in New York alone a staggering 95,364 miles of fences were made of stone, more miles than in the entire U.S. coastline. Similar astonishing figures were cited for New England.

The oldest fences, built of the sweat of men and oxen to create arable soil and also to pen cattle, crisscrossed a land that had been bared of trees. Now that the farms have gone, the forest has come back and the once-utilitarian fences play cosmetic roles, especially as they become visible in winter. In summer, they’re hidden in the green but are thrilling to come upon suddenly when walking in the woods.

They evoke nostalgia and thoughts of the timelessness of stone.

They’re valuable, too, and preyed upon by poachers looking for stones for various purposes – for chimneys, or fireplaces or to build other fences. Local news reports often tell of looted fences.

These old fences are easy to plunder because they’re free-standing, built stone upon stone with no mortar to hold them together. Over time, some stones become dislodged and fall to the ground, making them easier to carry away.

Some owners of fences bordering the road have brought in skilled labor to mortar the stones together to create a smoother, tidier effect. But are the rebuilt fences pleasanter to the eye than the weather-beaten old-timers?

On my grounds a barn dating from pre-Revolutionary days is fronted by what used to be a sheep pen made entirely of many-sized rocks. Some of them are so large you can imagine hearing the long-ago grunts of men and beast straining to haul them there. It’s a thing of beauty in itself, but we also have created beds of plants and flowers along it.

Within one’s own property, individual stones taken from a fence serve to create stone paths or rock gardens featuring both the stones and plants. In a sunny spot, junipers, creeping thyme and phlox will thrive among the stones. Ground covers like myrtle and ajuga prosper in shadier areas. Rocks also make nice-looking retaining walls for raised beds.

Big, flat boulders make attractive, long-enduring doorsteps.

Fifty years ago I had a big stone moved by tractor to make my front doorstep. It shows no wear at all from the decades of footsteps that have trod upon it. Later on, in a Japanese mood, I hauled a sizeable round boulder to sit atop a flat one on a lawn. It has no practical use, but I like the geometry and haven’t tired of it.

SACRAMENTO – The Bush administration announced support Thursday for a Clinton-era management plan that gives a new environmental tilt to managing 11.5 million acres of national forests in the Sierra Nevada.

U.S. Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, upheld a decision last month that rejected appeals by loggers, ski resorts and off-road groups hoping to kill the plan.

Rey’s action formally upheld a plan that took the Forest Service nine years and $12 million to craft, beginning in 1992 as an effort to protect to endangered spotted owl.

“The plan is a final agency decisions, which is now being implemented,” Rey said to a room lined with logging officials and environmentalists.

The news immediately cheered environmentalists and disappointed resource groups hoping a Republican Bush appointee and former timber lobbyist would throw out the plan for 11 national forests in California and Nevada. Rey called it his decision alone, despite advice within the Bush administration.

Environmentalists contended the plan was legally “airtight,” giving Rey no option but to uphold it. But Rey disputed that claim.

The management vision, formally called the Sierra Nevada Framework, shifts the Forest Service’s emphasis from logging old-growth forests to offering them greater protection. It also adds safeguards for endangered species and bans logging on most trees larger than 20 inches in diameter. Environmentalists said the management plan should limit logging in a 460-mile stretch of mountain terrain to levels one-tenth those reached during the Reagan administration in the 1980s.

California Forestry Association President David Bischel called Rey’s ruling the “worst decision they could have made” and one that will “add to the risk of catastrophic wildfire.”

He said forestry groups may eventually take their cases to court.

Rey said he made his decision with “considerable optimism,” but also “trepidation” about seeing the plan challenged in court.

“I’m pessimistic that the court system is the best place to decide these things,” he said.

Rey asked both sides to hold off legal action until seeing results of a few revisions to be announced within days by Pacific Southwest Forester Jack Blackwell. Forest Service officials said they are now writing an “action plan” aiming to better prevent destructive wildfires that frequently rage in the nation’s longest unbroken mountain range. Some of revisions incorporate points made by plan opponents, they said.

Environmentalists said they fear those might be a backdoor way to accomplish more logging. They, too, promised to sue if that happens.

But spokesmen for environmental organizations had mostly praise for Rey’s decision not to throw out the Clinton-era management plan.

“Today the sun is shining on California’s Range of Light,” said Jay Watson, regional director the Wilderness Society, borrowing 19th Century conservationist John Muir’s description of the mountain range.

Craig Thomas, spokesman for the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, lauded the decision and the Forest Service, saying, “I think California is leading the way in terms of this agency bringing its credibility back.”

Bob Roberts, director of California Snow, a group of Sierra Nevada ski resorts, said Rey should have scrapped the plan.

Ski resorts won’t be able to add new lifts if they can’t remove trees larger than 20 inches in diameter, Roberts said, which makes him “feel recreations has been a casualty of the process.”

LOS ANGELES – Insurance policy holders who were victims of the 1994 Northridge earthquake have until Dec. 31 to reopen claims.

Under state law, policy holders who did not receive adequate compensation for property damage were given another chance to have their claims reviewed despite the one-year statute of limitation on their quake policies.

“Many property owners found earthquake-related damage after the original claims period had expired. SB 1899 was signed into law to assist those that were denied benefits under their policy,” attorney Brian Kabateck, who helped draft the bill that took effect in January 2001, said Thursday.

The bill grew out of a probe of settlements negotiated by former insurance commissioner Chuck Quackenbush with insurance companies. Quackenbush resigned in July 2000 and is still under investigation by the state.

Under the bill, policy holders who contacted their insurance company before Jan. 1, 2000, about possible damage can still re-open a claim. Those who received an attorney-aided settlement from the insurance companies or court settlement cannot refile.

“Policy holders must act now before it’s too late,” Kabateck said.

The Jan. 27, 1994, Northridge quake measured magnitude-6.7. The epicenter was one mile south of Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. It caused more than 70 deaths and about $15.3 billion in insured losses. About 114,000 homes and buildings were damaged.

SAN FRANCISCO – A California judicial watchdog agency is charging a Fresno County judge with misconduct in connection with his alleged link to a fraudulent investment scandal.

The charges, made public Wednesday, accuse James I. Aaron of “willful misconduct in office, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.”

The allegations from the Commission on Judicial Performance could result in Aaron’s removal from office, but likely will have little impact since he is not seeking a new term when his four-year term expires at the end of 2002.

According to the commission, the judge, working with three people who were later convicted of investment fraud, induced investors to commit “substantial sums of money” while promising safety and extremely large profits.

The allegations charge that Aaron knew, or should have known, that the Ponzi scheme was fraudulent while he profited from it and investors lost money.

The judge’s attorney, Jerome Sapiro Jr., said his client was also a victim of the Ponzi scheme. He said Aaron didn’t know he was touting fraudulent investments.

“He did not know whether it was legitimate or not,” Sapiro said, adding that the judge told investors to “make up their own minds.”

The commission also alleged that he solicited $50,000 from a Fresno attorney hearing a case before him. The commission said that, in 1998, the judge summoned a lawyer into his chambers and asked him to invest.

The judge continued to hear cases involving the attorney, David Mugridge. But Aaron did not disclose on the record to opposing counsel that he was soliciting investments from Mugridge, according to the commission.

Mugridge did not return phone calls.

The watchdog agency said that the judge was working with Fresno businessman Kenneth L. Roper, who was sentenced this year to four years imprisonment; Chicago lawyer James M. Baczynski, sentenced to three years, and Debbie S. Alliji, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., woman sentenced to three years.

Aaron first was implicated in the scandal last year when the trio were on trial for investment fraud.

U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, who presided over the trio’s trial, declared the fraudulent activity a “classic Ponzi scheme.” Even so, no criminal charges have been levied against Aaron.

Aaron’s legal troubles began in 1997, when Fresno County sued him for allegedly failing to pay his property taxes.

Aaron, 59, originally took the bench in 1979. He is required to reply to the charges by Jan. 7.

SANTA MONICA – The push to increase the mobility of disabled people could hit home under a proposal that may require new houses or those undergoing major renovation in the city to be built with accessibility features for the handicapped.

If adopted, it would be the first such mandatory building code in the nation covering privately built homes, and would burnish a reputation for socially conscious lawmaking that long ago earned the city the moniker “People’s Republic of Santa Monica.”

Opponents criticize the idea as another intrusion into the private domain and an additional expense that would further push home prices out of more people’s range.

Advocates see it as progressive and pragmatic in a nation of aging baby boomers.

“In a forward thinking society, it would be nice for someone to be able to ask everyone into their home, or still be able to live there comfortably despite having suffered a debilitative disease or accident,” said Alan Toy, 51, who had polio as a child and uses a wheelchair or crutches.

The measure may include such requirements for homes as a no-step entrance in the front or rear of a house, hallways that are at least 36 inches wide, wheelchair accessible routes through first floors, and doorways at least 32 inches wide.

It could also go further and include provisions such as installing electrical controls and thermostats to be placed at wheelchair-accessible heights.

The proposal is still in the formative stage. The City Council has approved paying $75,000 for a consulting firm to study the feasibility of such a law. The main objective is to define how much disabled access the codes should require and how “major” a remodeling project has to be before it would fall under the law.

“What comes out of it remains to be seen, but ultimately the council will decide how the ordinance will be drafted,” said Tim McCormick, a city building official.

Councilman Herb Katz cast the sole vote against funding the study.

“I don’t see a real need for it,” he said. “I understand it commercially, but privately I don’t see a need for a disabled building code. It’ll never fly.”

The consultant’s report is due by May and the council plans to hold public meetings in the spring to collect opinions from among the city’s 84,000 residents.

The potential impact of a such a law on the city is unclear. A recent community profile published by the Santa Monica-based Rand think-tank describes the seaside Los Angeles suburb as fully built up and likely to have a stable or slightly declining population barring a substantial growth in new housing.

But Santa Monica’s direction on access for the disabled could have broader influence.

Toy, a university researcher and part-time actor, believes the issue will increasingly be at the forefront of city and state agendas as the population ages.

“They’re going to start demanding, as a generation, that these kinds of policies get implemented throughout society,” said Toy, an activist, university researcher and part-time actor.

Incorporating accessibility features during the construction change would come at minimal cost, a maximum of $600, he said.

Builders disagree with that estimate. The cost could run into the thousands of dollars, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

“Every time you add costs to a home, you edge someone else out of the (housing) market,” NAHB spokeswoman Donna Reichle said.

“It means that person will have to save a few more years for a down payment ... or have to wait longer to take advantage of the tax benefits of owning a home.”

Instead, Reichle said, consumers should set the pace for disabled access features in the housing industry.

“Builders have a lot of experience in responding to market needs,” she said. “If there’s a demand, then they’re going to start fulfilling it.”

PASADENA – A San Marino family is suing Northwest Airlines for Grinch-like behavior, charging that the company destroyed Christmas last year by holding it prisoner on the tarmac at a Southern California airport.

Jeffrey Sheldon, his wife and two teen-age daughters claim that they were illegally and falsely imprisoned for more than seven hours on Dec. 25, 2000, after bad weather in Los Angeles caused Northwest to divert the flight from Honolulu to Ontario International Airport, 57 miles east of Los Angeles.

“We’re going to be asking for millions of dollars in punitive damages,” said Joseph Lisoni, a lawyer for the family.

The Sheldons initially asked the airline for about $5,000 compensation, before filing their case in San Bernardino County Superior Court in October.

At a press conference Thursday, the Sheldons and their lawyers complained that Northwest, which handled 58 million passengers last year, was blatantly unprepared to handle the diversion and that the airline prevented the family from getting off the plane between 1 a.m. and sometime after 7 a.m. Christmas morning.

“It was claustrophobic,” said Pamela Sheldon.

Her 14 year-old daughter, Samantha, said the delay spoiled traditional plans of visiting family because they spent much of the day sleeping after being awake all night.

“All I remember was pretty much being confused and not knowing what was going on,” Samantha said.

“If Santa Claus was on that plane, he would have missed Christmas,” Lisoni said. “They were not given food. There was no Christmas music piped in to them over the system.”

Northwest Airlines said the delay lasted only 4 1/2 hours. Initially the crew intended to hold until fog cleared in Los Angeles, said Kathleen Peach, a Northwest spokeswoman.

When the crew realized the weather wasn’t going to improve, it began plans to let people off the plane, but there was further delay because the airport lacked the necessary equipment for the large DC-10, which Northwest didn’t regularly fly into Ontario, she said.

Northwest sent each passenger a letter of apology from its chief executive as well as vouchers ranging between $25 and $100 for future travel on the airline. In addition, it reimbursed the Sheldons for a car rental and extra parking charges, Peach said.

Last April, Northwest agreed to pay $7.2 million to 3,700 passengers trapped on 30 planes in Detroit during a blizzard in January 1999. Planes ran out of food and water and toilets overflowed as travelers sat in their seats on the tarmac for hours.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t learn from that experience,” Lisoni said.

But Northwest said the circumstances in Detroit nearly a year earlier were very different.

“That was a much more egregious situation,” Peach said.

The average $1,300 payment made to each passenger trapped in Detroit is not a new standard travelers can expect for every delay, she said.

Sheldon, a patent lawyer who flies frequently, said his family’s case should not be thought of as trivial in light of the recent losses families have suffered from terrorism in the skies. People are willing to cut airlines slack for extraordinary circumstances, but not for events within their control, he said.

“I don’t think you can use Sept. 11 as an excuse for bad customer service,” he said.

SANTA ANA – A man was arrested Thursday for allegedly trying to break his girlfriend’s neck and then pushing her off a cliff, police said.

Bryan John Klein, 32, of Riverside County was arrested for investigation of attempted murder and was held without bail at the Orange County Jail.

Klein is suspected of attacking Wendy Mason, 33, who was spotted Wednesday morning pinned in tree branches halfway down a steep ravine in Limestone Canyon Park, east of Irvine.

Mason was trapped for about four hours. She remained in guarded condition Thursday at Western Medical Center.

Mason told police her boyfriend, Klein, attacked her. Klein has a criminal history of violence, and a restraining order was in place between them at the time of the crime, the Sheriff’s Department said.

SAN FRANCISCO – The dot-com death toll doubled this year, with at least 537 Internet companies either going out of business or seeking refuge in bankruptcy court, according to statistics released Thursday.

This year’s casualties joined 225 dot-coms that perished during 2000, said Webmergers.com, a San Francisco-based deal maker that has tracked the rise and fall of the Internet economy.

But the worst may be over.

Only 21 Internet companies have failed in each of the past two months, the lowest mortality rate since 10 dot-coms failed in August 2000.

The recent dropoff has prompted some observers to conclude that most dot-coms have already been wiped out, but Webmergers said that perception is wrong.

The site estimates that 7,000 to 10,000 Internet companies remain in operation. That means the financial devastation of the past two years claimed no more than 10 percent of the sector, leaving behind a stronger – and possibly wiser – group of survivors.

“To say that the decline in shutdowns is because there are no dot-coms left is a bit like saying a decline in rabies rates is due to the fact that all the dogs are dead,” Webmergers said in its analysis.

The dot-com wipeout triggered a tidal wave of layoffs, including cuts made by Internet companies trying to weather the storm by pruning expenses.

Through November, dot-com companies had announced a total of 98,522 layoffs, more than doubling the 41,515 firings that were made in 2000, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a job-locating firm in Chicago. The firm plans to announce year-end totals Monday.

Dot-com layoffs also are tapering off. In November, Internet companies announced 2,901 job cuts, down dramatically from the peak of 17,554 layoffs announced in April.

California, home to the technology-rich Silicon Valley, sustained the most dot-com damage in the past year. Since January 2000, 227 Internet companies based in California have closed or filed for bankruptcy, accounting for 30 percent of the nationwide total during that period, Webmergers said. New York, home to Silicon Alley, ranked next with 75 dot-com failures during the past two years.

SACRAMENTO – California shoppers will start paying more at the register when a quarter-cent sales tax increase kicks in Tuesday.

Officials estimate the increase will cost a family of four an average $120 a year. And it has prompted intense debate for months, including a new wave of Republican-sponsored radio ads blasting Gov. Gray Davis’ handling of the state budget.

The California Republican Party’s ads hit the airwaves Thursday in some of the state’s major markets, signaling the official start of a political ad season that likely will focus heavily on Davis, taxes and the state’s fiscal condition.

The quarter-cent sales tax increase will kick in automatically Tuesday — the first day of 2002 — because of falling state revenues and a shrinking emergency reserve.

Republicans blame Davis, saying he failed to build a large enough reserve into the budget and planned poorly for a slumping economy. Key GOP lawmakers held back their votes for the budget this summer over the sales-tax trigger, forcing an impasse in the Legislature and causing Davis to sign the state’s spending plan nearly a month late.

But Davis and other Democrats say the sales-tax trigger, signed into law by Republican former Gov. Pete Wilson and supported by Republican lawmakers, is meant to funnel dollars back to taxpayers when the economy soars and help fill the state treasury when times are tough.

Davis supporters also say he signed into law $3 billion in tax relief in his first two years in office and that he isn’t responsible for the economic downturn and dwindling revenues.

“Governor Davis has been a fiscally prudent governor,” said Roger Salazar, spokesman for Davis’ re-election campaign.

The state is one of many facing revenue shortfalls from an already-weak economy and the fiscal fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Analysts estimate California faces a $12 billion budget deficit in the coming fiscal year.

But Republican party consultant Rob Stutzman said the party thinks it’s fair to blame Davis for lacking “the foresight to plan well when times were good.”

The new ads feature two elves discussing the tax increase, with jingling holiday bells in the background, and blaming Davis. The ads, which will cost the state GOP about $75,000, are scheduled to air through New Year’s Eve and possibly New Year’s Day in Los Angeles, Sacramento and the Central Valley.

The ad is the first of many in the final two months before the statewide primaries when three Republicans will battle for the nomination to challenge Davis in November. Advisers for all three Republicans and Davis have said their ads will start airing in January.

It was three days after the Sept. 11 attacks, and Angela Porter, a Berkeley grantwriter, was on her way to a candlelight vigil in Petaluma.

“I was very upset and angry, like a lot of people were, and I felt a very strong need to do something,” said Porter. “I was in the car ... and something inside me said: ‘Walk across the country for peace.’”

Porter quickly pushed the notion to the back of her mind. But the next morning, something remarkable happened. Lisa Porter, Angela’s twin sister, called to announce that she and her partner, Roya Arasteh, were contemplating the same idea.

Today, Arasteh and the Porter twins, all Berkeley residents, are gearing up for an eight-month cross-country walk, called “Peace-by-Peace,” which will begin Jan. 21, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park, and end on Sept. 11, 2002 at Lafayette Park in Washington D.C.

Two other women have signed up for the walk, and Padraig MacRauiri, a friend in San Francisco, will drive a support vehicle and prepare meals for the first half of the journey.

The organizers, who are not affiliated with any group, say the walk will make a statement about the importance of peace. They emphasize that the true focus of the journey is discovery.

“It’s not a statement, but a question – what is peace?” said Lisa, a counselor at Rock LaFleche Community Day Center, a continuation high school in North Oakland. “What does it mean to walk in peace and stay in peace, even when you enter strange places?”

“Our hope for the walk is that it inspires people to examine their lives,” added Angela, “as it has called on us to examine our own lives.”

The organizers have already raised $1,000 for their trip and hope to raise $10,000 by the time they leave. They will attempt to raise another $10,000 on the road.

Peace-by-Peace organizers will hold a fund-raiser and send-off party Jan. 5 at the Black Box Theatre in Oakland, 1928 Telegraph Ave., from 5 p.m. to midnight. The event will include music and poetry by a number of local artists.

Local residents and peace groups, such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in Berkeley and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization whose western regional headquarters is in San Francisco, have offered various forms of assistance – everything from help with media outreach, to advice on the type of rain gear to carry on the trip.

But the organizers said they have purposely avoided becoming affiliated with any particular group.

“Organizations tend to have certain agendas and expectations,” said Angela Porter, “and we didn’t want the purpose or intention of this walk to get caught up in an organization’s agenda.”

“This is just a group of people,” added Lisa Porter, “individuals responding to something, rather than agencies.”

Arasteh, who works at the Berkeley Public Library, said the walkers have not yet ironed out many of the trip’s details, especially for the latter half of the journey. But, she said the unplanned nature of the walk is one reason for its appeal.

“There’s only so much organizing that we can do,” said Arasteh. “One purpose is to walk out into the openness and see what we can discover.”

Arasteh said she was particularly interested to learn how polling figures, demonstrating widespread support for the war in Afghanistan, match up with the thoughts of real people, across the country.

Walkers will begin by moving through the Central Valley, down to Joshua Tree National Park in southeast California and into Arizona. Peace-by-Peace will then walk through the South, visiting historic sites along the way, such as the Memphis, Tennessee site of the Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination.

Along the way, walkers plan to meet with various local peace groups, and attend special events, such as a peace fair that friends are planning in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Jan. 5 fundraiser at the Black Box Theatre will include performances by: Youth Speaks, a Bay Area poetry group, Water Brother, a Petaluma band, Pear Michaels, a Concord singer-songwriter, Obey Jah, a Bay Area reggae group, R. Nat. Turner and Upsurge, a Berkeley jazz poetry group, Green, a San Francisco rock group, Mary Web, a Berkeley poet, and Vukani Mawethu Choir, a Berkeley-based group that sings songs from South Africa.

The Berkeley High boys’ basketball team mounted a dramatic comeback Wednesday night only to come up short in the final seconds, falling 58-55 to the Acalanes Dons in their opening-round game of the Leo LaRocca Sand Dunes Classic at Saint Ignatius Prep in San Francisco.

After trailing by nine points with less than three minutes to play, the Yellowjackets went on a 12-2 run, finally taking the lead 55-54 on a Dontae Hall floater with 20 seconds remaining in the game. But that was the end of Berkeley's scoring, and Acalanes center Mark Ricksen soon regained the lead for the Dons with a driving layup, an acrobatic play on which he was also fouled.

Ricksen failed to convert the three-point play, but Acalanes came away with the rebound. Berkeley had fouls to give and, after a pair of non-shooting, fouls wound the clock down to four seconds, Acalanes junior forward Zach Clark was sent to the line for a crucial one-and-one. Clark buried both free throws, and the Yellowjackets hopes for victory along with them.

“Tonight we just waited too long to start playing basketball,” Gragnani said. “Right now we're finding new ways to show our inexperience each time out.”

Berkeley began showing signs of life halfway through the fourth quarter, scraping together a six-point run. After a questionable foul that raised the eyebrows of several Acalanes players, Acalanes head coach Robert Collins instructed his players to keep their heads in the game.

“Don't make faces, just play! Who cares what he calls?” shouted Collins, whose booming voice reverberated in the Saint Ignatius’ tiny Cowell Pavilion throughout the contest.

After the ‘Jackets pulled to within three points, 46-43, Acalanes junior forward J.D. Dudum seemed to respond to Collins’ coaching, instantly erasing Berkeley's six-point run with back-to-back three pointers.

Dudum torched the Yellowjackets for 16 points in the second half, leading all players with 22 points total.

“We've seen him before,” Gragnani said of the 6-foot-3 Dudum. He’s a good player. Tonight we just lost vision of him from time to time, and he picked up several easy buckets.”

Berkeley’s Robert Hunter-Ford answered Dudum with his own three-pointer, sparking the Yellowjackets' late run. Hunter-Ford led Berkeley with 14 points on the night, 10 of which came in the second half.

The Yellowjackets now face the loser of the late game between Vallejo High and Oakland's Fremont High in a consolation bracket game Friday at Cowell Pavilion, while the Dons move on to the more spacious McCullough Gym to face the winner of the same game.

“The way you learn is to be in that situation,” Berkeley head coach Mike Gragnani said. “We learned the hard way tonight.”

Wednesday, Jan. 2

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

Puppet Art Theater Company with Art Grueneberger

3 p.m.

Public Library, Claremont Branch

2940 Benvenue Ave.

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales

7 p.m.

Public Library, West Branch

1125 University Ave.

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270.

Rotary International President to Speak at Berkeley Rotary

noon

H’s Lordships Restaurant

199 Seawall Dr.

Richard King will speak about the importance of Rotary and the impact Rotary has on the community and the world. Everyone welcome. 549-4524.

Thursday, Jan. 3

California Desert Hikes

7 p.m.

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Steve Tabor will share slides and information on his favorite day hikes in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego and the Mojave. 527-4140

Puppet Art Theater Company with Art Grueneberger

11 a.m.

Public Library, West Branch

1125 University Ave.

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

Puppet Art Theater Company with Art Grueneberger

3 p.m.

Public Library, North Branch

1170 The Alameda

The classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will be performed with a “behind the scenes” after the show. Free. Recommended for children ages 3 and up. 649-3913, www.infopeople.org/bpl/.

Regarding the question of a penalty for “hitting” vs. not “hitting” a pedestrian legally in a crosswalk, I note, in the Daily Planet 12-21-01, that Lt. Agnew is claimed to have said that “a ticket” (read: the statutory criminal penalty) in each of the above two alternative cases is the same. Solely from reading the California Vehicle Code, I would conclude otherwise when there is any sort of injury to the pedestrian. The cited article and that in The S. F. Chronicle describe minor injuries, albeit quite slight, in the 12-12-01 auto-pedestrian accident at Russell St. and Claremont Ave, as a result of which the victim was taken to a hospital in an ambulance.

I would conclude that the motorist in the reported accident should have been cited additionally under VC 21971, which invokes VC 42001.18, which in turn, stipulates a $220 fine for a first violation where a subject pedestrian suffers injury – whereas VC 42001(a)(1) limits a first-offense fine to $100.

“Every Inch a King” Jan. 11 through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun

“Images of Innocence and Beauty” Through Jan. 8: An exhibit featuring Kathleen Flannigan’s drawing and furniture - boxes, tables, and mirrors, all embellished with images of the beauty and innocence of the natural world. Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison St.

“From With These Walls” Jan. 5: Educational studio opening celebration gallery show of student works in steel, bronze, aluminum, cast iron, glass, neon, ceramic, stone and paper; jewelry. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby St. (Entrance is one block south on Murray St.) 843-5511, fran@thecrucible.org.

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography. Wed, Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

Jewish Community Center Jan. 14: 7:30-9 p.m., Emily Rose interweaves the family chronicle of her ancestors with the political and social events of the 18th and 19th centuries; Jan. 16: 7:30-8:30 p.m., Elizabeth Rosner will read from her compelling debut novel “The Speed of of Light.” Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St.

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot by 40 foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion “The Works of Alexander Nepote.” Nepote’s medium is a process of lyered painting of torn pieces of watercolor paper, fused together in images that speak of the spirit that underlies and is embodied in the landscape he views. Jan. 4 through Mar. 29

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu

City officials are keeping a close eye on a local medical marijuana club that has been robbed at gunpoint twice during the last two months.

The most recent incident occurred Dec. 13, at about 6 p.m., when armed robbers allegedly entered Berkeley Medical Herbs located at 1672 University Ave. and stole an undisclosed amount of marijuana and cash.

A friend of club owner Ken Estes told police that the robbers carried automatic, Uzi-like weapons.

Just two months earlier, the club was robbed at about the same time of day. In that incident, the robbers made off with a significant amount of cash and marijuana and escaped in a car owned by one of the club’s employees.

The Berkeley Police Department said it would not release additional information on the latest robbery while the investigation is pending.

Meanwhile, Councilmember Linda Maio, representatives of the Berkeley Police Department and staff from the city manager’s office have met with Estes, and have been attempting to formulate a response if problems at the beleaguered club continue.

Arrietta Chakos, the city manager’s chief of staff, said in response to a City Council request, her office is watching the club and preparing a report on security at all the medical marijuana clubs in Berkeley.

“We want to make sure that we keep an eye on this,” she said. “Our main concern is to maintain public safety.”

Maio said her office has been spearheading attempts to place safety concerns about the club closer to the top of the city’s agenda. “This being the second time this has happened, we have to get a lot serious a lot faster,” she said.

Maio said she had held a neighborhood meeting on crime in her district shortly after the first robbery occurred. The meeting had been scheduled many months in advance of the robbery and was meant to address home burglaries and street stick-ups, but she found that many of the people who attended were very concerned about the robbery at the club.

“This is clearly not what we desire at all,” she said. “It’s unhealthy for everyone. It’s not good for the neighborhood, and it’s not good for the people that go there.”

While the club is not technically in Maio’s district – it’s in Councilmember Dona Spring’s jurisdiction – it does lie directly across University Avenue from it.

Maio said that she had gone by the club after the community meeting to see what was happening there. At one point she said she saw several “young-looking” people hanging around outside and on another occasion she saw a couple of large men with baggy jackets standing in front of the club facing University Avenue. She surmised that these men were part of the security operations put in place after the first robbery.

Dorrit Geshuri, executive director of the Alliance of Berkeley Patients, defended Berkeley Medical Herbs and Estes last week, and said that the city bears some responsibility for the latest robbery there.

According to Geshuri, the BPD had told the club to remove the “security” in front of the club on the day before most recent robbery.

“If they had asked the club to remove security, they should have increased the police presence in that neighborhood,” she said.

BPD Chief Dash Butler said last week that the department had suggested that the club hire a professional security service, rather than the apparently ad-hoc duo the club had employed.

Geshuri said, though, that in the wake of the most recent robbery, Estes has planned to take additional steps to deter criminals. He will install a metal gate on the front door, so that people who wish to enter will have to be buzzed in, she said.

He also told Geshun that he will install closed-circuit security cameras throughout the building and around its perimeter, and will change the business hours of operation so that it is only open when it is light outside.

“We felt like this club has had a lot of problems, but we feel like it is addressable,” she said. “What we’re focusing on is making sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Maio said that if problems at the club continue, the city could consider taking the matter before the Zoning Adjustments Board, which could declare it a public nuisance.

“There’s a certain amount of reluctance to go in that direction, because the BPD is looking at more of a law enforcement issue,” she said.

But the problem facing the city, said Maio, is how to take action against a problematic club without unfairly penalizing other clubs.

“My aim is to enable people who need medical marijuana to get it, but not to take advantage of our compassion,” she said. “This is the only club we’re having problems with right now.”

The Downtown Berkeley Association says it supports a balanced approach for transit and parking. However, for years parking advocates have claimed a need for balance based on demand and we built more parking.

At what point of time in our auto oriented era have we had a balanced approach? Why do we have all of the growing congestion? Do we want more people accessing downtown with more autos and generating more congestion? What do people mean by a balanced approach?

For balance, we need to expand our perspective and look to the future. We should look at what other cities with lots of congestion are doing. San Francisco has so much congestion and pedestrian accidents that they are considering reducing parking requirements.

Meanwhile, more and more people are attending the many cultural, sport and entertainment events using transit in San Francisco having limited parking.

Most cities outside the United States have little or no parking in central city areas are getting by with closely controlled and administered parking. Many of these cities inform drivers where there is available parking when entering these areas. Supplementing their limited parking, they get by because they have good transit. Better enforcement, control and charging a market rate for parking raises revenue that could supplement additional transit service.

For Berkeley’s current situation, people evidently are accessing downtown, the university, YMCA, and city offices, encountering some congestion but are managing.

The problem of urban living becomes evident when more and more autos are used generating more congestion and pedestrian hazards. So again where is the balance?

While acknowledging that some people need to drive, I firmly believe there are a greater number who need not drive to downtown and use transit. UC Berkeley’s Class Pass has substantially increased use of transit and reduced the demand for parking.

The City’s Eco Pass program should also reduce auto trips and parking. What about Downtown Berkeley Association and the YMCA instituting or encouraging similar programs? There are cities that control parking where the city gains revenues to support transit. Orlando, Fla. allows only limited private parking within the building complex and controls all public parking and from the revenues operates a convenient free exclusive way bus system serving city center.

Vancouver, British Colombia imposes a special tax on private parking and its collected revenue supplements transit. With more revenue from parking programs as mentioned above and with more people using transit, generating more revenue, in combination this will make transit more convenient with increased frequency. So, one should not judge transit and parking at current usage.

Therefore, I favor the Transportation Demand Study’s proposal to provide an opportunity for the city to institute programs as mentioned.

Three weeks ago, when a janitorial company’s supervisor called Adalberto Mendoza, it wasn’t to extend the best wishes of the season to the janitor’s wife and four children.

Instead, it was to let him know that he and the two other janitors employed at a Center Street building were being laid off as of Jan. 1.

“It was very bad news for me,” said Mendoza, whose children range in age from 15 years old to seven months. “It was this job that gave us health insurance. Now there will be nothing in case the children get sick.”

Every day for the last three-and-a-half years, Mendoza has finished work at his day job roasting coffee in Emeryville and headed to 1947 Center St. where he is paid $10 an hour to clean the six-story building from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

But three weeks ago, Universal Building Sevices, a unionized company that had the janitorial contract for the building for the last 13 years, informed its janitorial staff that the building’s property management company, San Francisco-based Gershon Baker and Associates, decided not to renew their contract in favor of California Janitorial, a non-union company.

Mendoza works with janitors Maria and Leon Munoz, who will also be laid off after working at the building for 13 years.

All three belong to Service Employees International Union, Local 1877.

As building employees – most who work for the city, state or UC Berkeley – were leaving the site on Wednesday, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, SEIU Organizer Alvaro Gomez, Mendoza and Maria Munoz distributed fliers at the entrance to the six-story building.

“We made our best effort to clean this building everyday,” said Munoz, who spoke through an interpreter. “It’s not fair for the property manager to make this decision overnight.”

Many of the workers knew Mendoza and Munoz and promised to call the property management company to protest the contract cancellation.

Karen Redman, who works in the building for the California Department of Health Services, said she knew of at least three other people in her office who had called to support the workers.

“These guys do a great job on that building,” she said. “This is clearly about greed and not about quality of work.”

Lori Samuel, who manages the building for Gershon Baker, did not return Daily Planet phone calls on Wednesday. According to a $2.5 million lease the city recently signed for office space in the building, the property owner is listed as 1947 Center Street Associates. However there is no telephone listing under that name in the greater Bay Area.

The lease, renewed for five years last January, is for 18,000-square-feet of office space currently occupied by Public Works and Department of Parks and Waterfront offices.

Worthington said the lease should be carefully reviewed. “The city should look into the possibility of breaking that lease,” he said, “especially with office rents coming down throughout the city.”

Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz said the lease gave the city no control over the janitorial service. “In some of the buildings the city leases, we provide our own maintenance service but in this case the property manager has control over that,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because the city certainly supports the right of people to organize.”

Gomez said union representatives had already contacted UBS to ask that the three janitors be hired at another location.

“We are also hoping that if enough of the people who work in the building call the property manager will realize that this is unfair and will change their minds,” he said.

Last week, the Board of Education voted to distribute written notices to Berkeley High School teachers and counselors, advising them that students who ask about conscientious objection to war can get further information from the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, an Oakland group.

But the school board refused a request by the Peace and Justice Commission, a commission jointly appointed by the school board and City Council, to provide Central Committee literature at BHS, arguing that it did not have an opportunity to review the text.

Steve Freedkin, a member of the Peace and Justice Commission, said he was not troubled by the school board’s decision on the literature.

“My main concern is that students know there are counseling options available for conscientious objectors,” he said, arguing that BHS would be doing enough if it just notified pupils of the Central Committee’s existence and provided contact information.

School board approves union contract

The Board of Education voted unanimously last week to approve a union contract for the 2001-2002 year with the Public Employees Union, Local 1, which represents all classified staff in the school district.

Classified staff includes any employee, from bus driver to instructional aide, who is not a teacher or administrator.

The contract includes a 5.94 percent salary increase. “For the school district this year, that’s a very fair increase,” said Charles Egbert, general manager for the union.

School board Director John Selawsky agreed, and called for greater state and federal aid to boost salaries even further.

The new contract also calls for the district to confer with the union in developing each year’s school calendar. Egbert said the issue is an important one because many in Local 1 are paid by the day, unlike teachers and administrators who are on salary. Therefore, school vacation schedules affect union members’ incomes.

Egbert said negotiations were business-like, and Selawsky said they were conducted in “good faith.”

E-mail David Scharfenberg at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net with school news for “Class Notes,”appearing every Thursday.

A bill now in the House seeks “to preserve the cooperative, peaceful uses of space for the benefit of all humankind.” One hundred thirty-eight countries signed a similar bill in the United Nations a few years ago. Only the United States and Israel abstained.

On Dec. 12 President Bush publicly exulted in our “victory” over the Taliban. He said Afghanistan was a “proving ground “ for the type of operations he plans against other “rogue nations.” Sounding almost jaunty, he said the anti ballistic missile treaty is “opening up” and the space weapons program is going forward. Our president has made it clear we do not need treaties, even domestic ones like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Rather, we need supremacy, grown in stages, from air to ground to space. We're almost there. We already have the technology to read a license plate from space or target a bird's eye. While the people of Afghanistan are dealing with radiation, land mines and unexploded cluster bombs on the ground, for us, the sky is the limit. If need be, we can retire there to a gated community. With less oxygen we'll have even fewer thoughts and memories. Peace on earth will be words to a forgotten song.

PETALUMA — An unmanned aircraft somehow broke from its moorings as its owner worked on the engine and took to the air Wednesday afternoon in rural Sonoma County.

Authorities weren’t sure where the Aeronaca Champion, a small two-seat plane from the 1950s, was headed, nor how it took off without a pilot.

The owner “was working on the engine I guess and it got away from him,” said Sonoma County sheriff’s spokesman Phil Coughlin.

The office said it was dispatched helicopters to search for wreckage east of Petaluma. The plane had less than 15 gallons of fuel, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and would not likely have been able to stay in the air for too long.

Authorities gave conflicting reports about when and where the plane took off. Coughlin said it left from a small, rural airstrip in the county’s southwest around 4:30 p.m.; an FAA spokesman said it left from Petaluma around 3:45 p.m.

It was reported that Berkeley's parking meters are being jammed in order to park cars longer. That can be remedied with electronic parking meters that enable the city to charge for parking the way cars are now charged in the automatic bay bridge tolls.

Cars would have devices that record the charges. That way, drivers could park as long as they wished, with no time limit. The meter charge would vary according to the amount of crowding typical for the time of day. The meter charge should be just high enough so that a driver can usually find parking within a block.

So besides not worrying about the time, the flexible times and charges would eliminate parking congestion. Meters could also have parking meters for such charging. Let's move away from obsolete 20th century coin parking with fixed times and rates, to 21st century flexible electronic meter charging.

SACRAMENTO — One of the state’s most notorious serial killers, serving a life sentence for the murders he said he committed at the command of voices in his head, is set to come up for parole for the ninth time on Thursday.

Herbert W. Mullin said he killed 13 people before his arrest in February 1973. He was convicted of 11 of the killings in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties.

Mullin, who claimed insanity, testified that he killed on telepathic orders from his father and that he did so to prevent a major earthquake predicted for January 1973.

“He couldn’t understand why he was being prosecuted, even,” said Dr. Donald T. Lunde, the psychiatrist who testified in Mullin’s defense.

There was no death penalty at the time, and Mullin was sentenced to life in prison, which meant a minimum of seven years. He has been denied parole eight times.

Edmund Kemper, who killed and dismembered his mother and seven other women between May 1972 and April 1973, was kept in a cell next to Mullin in the county jail.

“Herbie was just a cold-blooded killer ... killing everyone he saw for no good reason,” Kemper said. “A creep with no class.”

Mullin said he killed a drifter with a baseball bat and stabbed a hitchhiking student, but he was never tried for those. He was convicted of stabbing a priest in his confessional, shooting four camping teens, and killing a drug dealer, his wife and the wife and small children of another drug dealer.

Mullin has since blamed many others, including his family, for making him commit the murders, even one time saying he had been under a curse when he killed.

Opinions vary as to whether to let Mullin out. Lunde said it would be cheaper to put him up in a home and give him psychiatric treatment. But Chris Cottle, who prosecuted the case, said no.

STOCKTON — A Stockton man accused of going on a shooting spree on Christmas, shooting his father, the mother of his 7-month-old son and then fatally shooting her mother was booked Wednesday on murder charges, officials said.

Ramiro Gonzalez Jr., 23, was also charged with four counts of attempted murder, said Nelida Stone, a spokeswoman for the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department. His girlfriend, Jeanette Molina, 20, was charged on identical counts, plus charges that she was an accessory to the crimes, Stone said.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report around 2 p.m. Tuesday that a man had shot his father in the head, Stone said. Ramiro Gonzalez Sr., 51, was transported to an area hospital.

“The father is in critical condition and on life support,” Stone said.

The shooter fled the scene of the attack, went about eight blocks away and allegedly kicked in the door to a residence where the mother of his child, Mona Lisa Espinoza, 21, held their 7-month-old son, Stone said.

Gonzalez then reportedly barricaded himself in at the residence until a Stockton S.W.A.T. team member talked him into surrendering at 8:20 p.m. after a tense stand-off. More than 50 police officers and sheriff’s deputies were at the scene as it unfolded.

Gonzalez and Molina were at that point taken into custody without incident, Stone said.

Molina was charged investigators believe “she was with him when he shot his dad and she was also with him and apparently was the driver when he went to the other address,” Stone said.

Both are expected to be arraigned in court Friday, she said.

Detectives were still searching for the weapons used and the vehicle the suspects were driving, she said.

The global economy is bringing more foreign-grown produce to American tables and blurring the borders for nations and multinational corporations. Much of that produce first lands on American shores in California, itself the nation’s fruit and vegetable basket.

Yet all produce is not created equal.

For instance, illegal pesticide residue regularly shows up 3 1/2 times as often on produce from Mexico as on produce grown in California, according to the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation.

“It appears to us the disparity is getting worse rather rapidly,” particularly in the last four or five years, said Charles Benbrook, a national pesticide expert and Consumers Union consultant.

That realization is sparking new debate from San Francisco, where a United Nations human rights investigator heard complaints this month about U.S. pesticide exports, to Washington, D.C., where it helped rekindle congressional support for “country of origin” labeling requirements in the pending farm bill.

Developing countries generally have few controls on pesticide use, which results in more residue on produce imported by the United States, said Colorado State University sociology professor Douglas Murray, an expert on pesticide hazard reduction.

Mexican tomatoes, for instance, had a “toxicity index” more than four times higher than California tomatoes, according to a February Consumers Union report based on 1998 data, the most recent available.

“The U.S. produce is much cleaner than Mexico,” Benbrook said. “I would say overall, California probably produces the cleanest produce in the world.”

California not only has what Benbrook called the world’s most restrictive regulations on pesticide use, safety and application, but its dry Mediterranean climate means growers need to use less pesticide than in more humid areas.

That helps makes it cleaner even than produce grown elsewhere in the United States, Benbrook said. For instance, he co-authored a 1999 Consumers Union report that found higher pesticide residue on U.S. crops like peaches, winter squash, green beans, apples and pears than was on similar foreign-grown produce.

The California Farm Bureau and Western Growers Association said they are more likely to point out the overall safety of produce than they are to play up a disparity between producers, admittedly out of reluctance to discourage consumers.

“We certainly promote the fact that our produce is grown under these very strict and rigorous standards,” said farm bureau spokesman Bob Krauter.

“In 97 percent of Mexican produce there was no pesticide detected whatsoever, and in 99 percent of California produce there was no pesticide detected whatsoever,” said Hank Giclas, Western Growers’ vice president for science and technical affairs.

Critics take a different view.

“If you magnify that out to the marketplace, that’s a lot of produce,” said Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group that has offices in Oakland and Washington, D.C. “This is indicative of the pesticide that’s out there.”

Though foreign produce tests higher for pesticide residue, “we’re still talking about very low levels” that have resulted in no reported illnesses, said Glenn Brank, spokesman for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. It may have more residue in part to protect it because it is being shipped long distances, he said.

The state’s pesticide program is designed to intercept contaminated produce by sampling a small percentage at packing houses and produce terminals, then tracking problem shipments back to the grower, whose entire crop would then be suspect.

But foreign shipments are often more difficult to trace to their source, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-funded study last year. In addition, produce from several different growers and packers may be commingled in the same shipment.

Brank said California is working particularly hard to address that problem with Mexico because of the volume of Mexican produce, but hasn’t found a solution.

“More and more, Mexico has to obey all the standards of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement). I don’t think there is much of a difference in standards,” said Bernardo Mendez, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco. “Maybe in some past years there has been some problem in enforcement, but that is getting better.”

Eighty-seven state and national farm groups are backing a country-of-origin labeling requirement in Congress’ pending farm bill, already approved by the House of Representatives, in part because of the pesticide issue.

“You know where your clothes come from, but you don’t know where your food comes from,” said Laura Johnston of the National Farmers Union. “It kind of makes a mockery of the strict regulations we have here when we import food from other countries that don’t have those regulations.”

PASADENA — A judge says next week’s Rose Bowl game isn’t a judicial emergency and the courthouse will stay open, despite predictions that a crush of fans will clog city streets during the first-ever non-holiday football contest.

Private businesses and some local government agencies want to send employees home early Jan. 3. But courthouse officials rejected a suggestion by the city to close at noon and send the building’s 100 workers home early.

Normally the Rose Bowl follows the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day, or Jan. 2 if New Year’s falls on Sunday. But under the recently enacted rotating college football playoff format, the championship game will be played at the Rose Bowl this year, two days after the parade.

The Miami-Nebraska game kicks off at 5 p.m. Thursday, with opening ceremonies set for 4:30 p.m. Police have urged fans to arrive by 3 p.m. because of anticipated traffic jams.

“People really need to arrive early and people who don’t need to be in that area can avoid the traffic,” Cmdr. Mary Schander said.

SAN FRANCISCO — A man died and his wife was rescued from the San Francisco Bay after their Jeep Cherokee careened into the chilly waters Tuesday afternoon.

Abdel Laarif, 37, of San Francisco was pronounced dead at the scene near the St. Francis Yacht Club along the waterfront, according to the city medical examiner’s office. The cause of his death had not been determined.

Laarif’s wife survived the crash, pulled to safety by passers-by, according to the medical examiner’s office. She was transported to a hospital and was being treated for hypothermia late Tuesday.

The accident occurred at about 2:45 p.m. Witnesses say the car seemed to behave normally until it suddenly sped toward the wall lining the yacht club parking lot.

“The car was going maybe five miles an hour and the next thing you know it was accelerating at 20 miles an hour and lurched up and over the curb and down over the brick wall, which was 12 feet to the ocean,” said Michael Keenan, one of three people who dove into the water to pull the couple out.

San Francisco police Sgt. Paul Morse called the quick actions that saved the woman’s life heroic.

Morse said emergency crews would have to wait until low tide to pull the battered car out of the water.

SAN FRANCISCO — Prompted by rolling blackouts and some of the nation’s highest energy bills, California residents and businesses used rebates to buy record numbers of energy-efficient appliances and solar panels in 2001.

Three major California utilities and the California Energy Commission say hundreds of thousands of Californians took advantage of dozens of rebate programs for everything from insulation to light bulbs as they tried to cut their long-term energy use and tame unruly utility bills.

“We have never seen anything like it,” said Gil Alexander, spokesman for Southern California Edison. “Apparently, responsiveness to calls for conservation plus the desire to reduce consumption because of rising electricity rates prompted many more consumers to take advantage of programs that are offered each year.”

Many Californians looked to their roofs for savings, cashing in rebates that cut the cost of installing pricey rooftop solar panel systems by as much as half.

Marwan Masri, manager of the renewable energy program at the state energy commission, said the state has received and approved nearly 2,000 rebates this year for solar systems.

“That’s huge. That’s something like maybe five times what we were receiving before the energy crisis hit,” Masri said.

The increased demand could help spur more innovation and competition in the solar industry, which in turn could help lower costs for future customers, Masri said.

Edison has taken more than 1 million phone calls this year from customers hoping to save on energy-efficient washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances, up from 200,000 calls the previous year, Alexander said. The utility has given out more than 70,000 rebates at a cost of roughly $15 million.

In the San Diego area, SDG&E handed out at least 5,000 washing machine rebates and 20,000 refrigerator rebates. That’s up from 2,000 and 4,400, respectively, the previous year, said Jennifer Andrews, an SDG&E spokeswoman.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers hauled home more than 150,000 energy-saving lamps, dishwashers, refrigerators and other qualifying appliances totaling $17 million in rebates, said Brian Swanson, a PG&E spokesman.

Ratepayers pay for appliance rebates, low-income power bill discounts and other programs with a small percentage of each month’s payment. Lawmakers also kicked in several million extra for each utility earlier this year after energy costs soared.

High demand, high wholesale energy costs, transmission glitches and a tight supply worsened by scarce hydroelectric power in the Northwest and maintenance at aging California power plants contributed to driving California energy prices skyward earlier this year.

MARTINEZ — The city’s only town crier is also believed to be the first one west of the Mississippi — and the nation’s only county crier after his appointment by Contra Costa County officials.

Redmond O’Colonies, 51 — whose real surname is O’Connell — won the American Guild of Town Criers championship in September and finished fifth in the world championships in August.

His duties in his home town of Martinez include appearing at ceremonies and spreading good will. One cry he’s used at local events goes something like this:

“Oyez. Oyez. Oyez. A warm welcome awaits visitors to Martinez, California. We are home to the largest bocce ball federation in the world, the mischievous martini, the model of modesty Mr. Joe DiMaggio and the magnificent marching master Mr. John Muir.”

O’Colonies, originally from Lancashire, England, has been working with the city since 1991 and said his job is a great way to make a living.

Party broken up by six police departments

VACAVILLE — Thirty officers from six police agencies were needed to quell a Christmas party that turned into a near-riot.

A woman was shot in the arm at dawn Wednesday during the brawl involving some of the more than 1,000 people who showed up Tuesday night for the festivities at the Spitfire Bar and Grill.

Officers responding to the report early Wednesday morning were met by a hostile crowd in the parking lot. The partygoers refused to let the officers approach the injured woman and began throwing beer bottles and rocks at the officers and their cars.

At that point — the police donned riot gear and called for help.

Officers from the Solano County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, and the Fairfield, Dixon and Vallejo police departments showed up.

Police Sergeant Jim Mayoral says the owner of the bar rented it out for a private hip-hop party and apparently was told it would be far smaller. The violence started when the owner began turning people away after the facility had reached its legal capacity.

Police later halted an SUV after a witness reported seeing a man with a gun enter the vehicle. He was booked for investigation of brandishing a handgun and carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle.

WASHINGTON — No suspects. No telltale clues. Not even a trace of Chandra Levy has surfaced in the baffling case of the missing federal intern.

Nearly eight months after the 24-year-old disappeared in Washington, police are no closer to finding her, despite the avalanche of publicity the case has received because of Levy’s link to Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, Calif.

“No new developments to report, let’s put it that way,” Sgt. Joe Gentile, a police spokesman, said last week.

Two police detectives and an FBI agent who specializes in difficult cases remain assigned to the investigation, considerably less manpower than the scores of officers pressed into service last summer to scour Washington parks and buildings.

Levy’s parents, Dr. Robert and Susan Levy of Modesto, Calif., asked as far back as June that police treat the disappearance as a crime, which might have allowed police to be more aggressive in questioning people and their search for clues. Gentile, however, said the case remains a missing person investigation because there is no evidence of a crime.

“We know they’re still working on it and we hope they’ll be able to help us solve it, to find Chandra, hopefully alive,” Levy’s father said in a telephone interview. “Or if not, to find out what happened.”

Susan Levy described the mystery as “a living hell.”

Billy Martin, the Levys’ Washington lawyer, said Levy most likely was the victim of a “well-planned kidnapping and removal.”

Had Levy been the victim of a random attack, Martin believes and police agree, her body probably would have been found by now. Police also probably would have found some physical evidence — blood, for instance — in or near her apartment.

“It’s highly unusual for no evidence of Chandra or her whereabouts to turn up, which leads us to conclude that Chandra has met with some professional or professionals who have removed every trace of her,” said Martin, a former federal prosecutor.

Levy lost her job as an intern in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in late April. She was last seen April 30 at a gym near her apartment. Police believe she spent the morning of May 1 surfing the Internet. Her parents received an e-mail from her that day that discussed airplane fares for her planned trip home to receive a graduate degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.

Her trail ends there, and interviews with friends, neighbors, co-workers, employees at the gym she frequented and Condit have shed little light on what might have happened to her.

Several days elapsed before Levy’s parents called police and Condit, their congressman, to say she was missing. When police searched her apartment a few days later, they found her wallet, computer and luggage. Only her keys were missing.

They also stopped by Condit’s apartment around the same time for the first of four interviews with the congressman.

Condit failed to tell investigators he was having an affair with Levy until his third interview, more than two months after Levy vanished, a police source says. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance and police say he is not a suspect.

Martin said police could have done more early in the investigation, when leads and memories were fresher.

“There were numerous leads, surveillance photos from apartment buildings in the immediate area, several things that could have been done that were not done,” Martin said. “But I can’t be critical of the police because they did not feel at that time that a crime had been committed.”

Martin had stronger criticism for Condit, who Martin said was neither candid nor cooperative with investigators in the days after Levy disappeared.

Condit has said no one in Washington “has been more cooperative” than he, although police expressed exasperation that they needed several interviews to get what they considered a complete picture of Condit’s relationship with Levy as well as his reconstruction of her comings and goings in late April.

While the investigation continues, the media coverage has waned since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Gone are the news cameras that were a fixture at locations in California and Washington, including Levy’s apartment. There, the only visible reminder of Levy is a weathered yellow ribbon that hugs a tree near the building’s entrance.

NEWPORT, Ore. — Christian Longo, the father of the boy and girl found dead in Waldport last week, has a history of fraud and was recently charged with theft in Lincoln County.

Christian Michael Longo, 27, was charged Dec. 11 with a crime that occurred Sept. 12. It is one of the few details that emerged Tuesday about the parents of Zachary Michael Longo, 5, and Sadie Ann Longo, 3, whose deaths have been ruled homicides.

Zachary’s body was discovered Wednesday floating about two feet from shore near the mouth of Lint Slough, which empties into Alsea Bay.

Divers searching for evidence Saturday recovered Sadie’s body submerged in water about 150 yards from where her brother was found.

Police spent Christmas Day following about a dozen leads called in since Monday, Lincoln County District Attorney Bernice Barnett said. Autopsies of the children have been completed, but the results are being withheld by the medical examiner.

The family moved to Oregon from Michigan in the past few months. It is not known why the family relocated.

Before their move to Oregon, the Longos spent at least seven years in Michigan.

In 1997, the Longos bought a brick ranch-style house. In 2000, the house had a market value of roughly $80,000. Using his new home as a base, Christian Longo opened a construction cleaning firm in February 2000.

In October, Longo was placed on three-year probation for forgery and writing bad checks in Washtenaw County. Those charges stemmed from June 2000, according to Department of Corrections records.

Two months later, Longo was charged with larceny. The outcome of that charge is unclear. The Washtenaw County Circuit Court recently issued a warrant on Longo for a probation violation.

In May, the Longos sold the house to Aretha Evans and her husband. Evans said she quickly began repairing the ailing house.

Several times, Evans came home to find court papers addressed to Christian Longo pinned to the door.

People claiming to be Longo’s former clients also began showing up, complaining about the job he had — or hadn’t — done.

One day, a sheriff’s deputy appeared on her doorstep with one of Longo’s clients.

“I thought, ‘Oh gosh, why did we buy this house?”’ said Evans, 50.

Barnett, the Lincoln County district attorney, said she had no information about Christian Longo’s recent theft charge. Lincoln County Circuit Judge Robert J. Huckleberry on Dec. 17 denied a motion to issue a warrant for Longo’s arrest.

Barnett refused to divulge if police think the Longo parents were victims themselves or were somehow involved in their children’s deaths. Barnett said investigators might release photos of the Longos on Wednesday, so the public can help police find them.

CARSON CITY, Nev.— A drive into the Sierra Nevada can seem like a retreat from time, a return to landscapes unmolested by the 20th century.

But the mountain range dividing Nevada and California, while largely undeveloped, is far from unaltered. George E. Gruell has the photographs to prove it.

The 74-year-old retired federal wildlife biologist hiked and occasionally helicoptered his way to dozens of mountain spots recorded in photographs taken in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

He hunted for the same peaks and boulders, the same vantage points. And when he found them, he took another photo.

In a just-published book, Gruell matches the new and old images, showing how much the landscapes have changed. In scene after scene, the contemporary photographs document dense forest and lush growth. Their historical twins show leaner country in which the trees were fewer, the ground more open, the meadows more abundant.

The face of the Sierra has filled in — and Gruell says that’s not good for wildlife, the forest and the future of the range“s ecosystems.

He says factors that caused the growth include heavy livestock grazing a century ago that bared soil for tree seedlings to take root; logging that cleared the way for new growth; and a wet climate cycle in the 1900s.

Most of all, Gruell argues that decades of anti-fire policies reduced wildfires, and they need to be brought back to return the Sierra to what it was.

Gruell’s work, partly reimbursed by logging interests, touches on an impassioned debate about the Sierra Nevada’s vast forest land. Logging levels, the role of fire and the decline in wildlife have been the subject of fierce political and environmental battles for years.

Gruell advocates prescribed burns — controlled, deliberate fires that many environmentalists favor as a way of clearing dense undergrowth.

But he also says logging limits imposed on federal land in the last decade are too restrictive and that in many places, stands need to be thinned before periodic prescribed burns can be started.

Gruell is well aware that his work, “Fire in Sierra Nevada Forests: A Photographic Interpretation of Ecological Change Since 1849,” is more than just a picture book.

“This publicly advocates forest management, which involves disturbing the landscape. And there are a great many people out there who don’t want any disturbance in the landscape,” he said.

After retiring from the U.S. Forest Service in 1987, the Carson City, Nev., resident started lecturing and consulting on fire ecology and fire’s effect on wildlife habitat.

In 1992, the California Forestry Association, a timber industry group, offered him a contract to conduct a repeat photographic study of the Sierra Nevada. He produced a brochure of about 20 photographs and wanted to do more. So he pursued the work on his own, poring over thousands of old photographs in historical libraries.

Gruell said he had been rejected by several publishers and was waiting to hear from another when he showed his manuscript to the Forest Foundation, a nonprofit group affiliated with the California Forest Products Commission, funded by industry companies.

The foundation was interested in his work and paid him a fee that covered his expenses in developing the book. Gruell said the foundation also arranged to get copies of his book at cost from Mountain Press Publishing Co. in Missoula, Mont., which issued it last month.

Gruell said he that had no reservations about taking a fee from the foundation and that it exerted no influence on his work. “It’s an objective look at the landscape and what has happened,” Gruell said.

He snapped his first repeat photographs with a 35-millimeter camera borrowed from his aunt in the 1950s. When he joined the Forest Service in 1962, he started using large-format cameras belonging to the service.

Again and again, his photographs showed that the landscape had been more open a century ago. Along with others, Gruell began to question the forest service policy of fighting fires and suppressing the natural fire cycle.

He says that without nature’s cycle of frequent fire to clean out undergrowth, the forest has become so dense that fire now can reach catastrophic intensity.

Gruell says the tree canopy has become so thick that desirable plants beneath have declined — and in places, the Sierra resembles a jungle.

GILLETTE, Wyo. — Looking through an office window across the expansive grasslands of his family’s South African ranch, Craig Knight could spot kudu, impala and warthogs foraging across the range land his family used to raise beefmaster cattle.

He came to the United States in 1988 and began to seek out knowledge from American ranchers about the beef industry he could take home.

Traveling from West Lafayette, Ind., Knight made his way from ranch to ranch learning as much as he could.

Then he arrived in Wyoming. Something about the Powder River Basin’s wide-open grasslands reminded him of South Africa.

Looking across the mineral-rich basin, Knight saw more than cows, antelope and ranches; he saw opportunity.

Coal mines were increasing production and environmental reclamation and the natural gas industry was just getting started.

So, he ended up staying and undertook a new career in computer-aided drafting and geographical mapping. He now has his own company, Knight Technologies Inc., which he runs with his wife.

Now, looking out the window of his office in Gillette, Knight has the privileged perspective of seeing those early opportunities realized, even beyond what he expected.

“I knew coal-bed methane was going to take off, but I had no idea it would take off as it has,” he said. “I don’t even think the operators knew.”

“For this mapping business, the goal was the coal mining, to develop site mine plans and do reclamation work,” Knight said.

While coal mines are the mainstay of the business — Knight Technologies has all but two of the basin’s coal mines for clients — work in the coal-bed methane industry is what is allowing it to grow.

Knight Technologies is looking to double its staff to six, with an administrative assistant, an engineer and a computer-aided design and geographic information systems specialist.

It has grown out of the cozy 1,500 square-foot office and is preparing to move into a 2,600 square-foot office space nearby.

New development is the key to Knight Technologies’ coal-bed methane business. For every new coal-bed methane project targeting federal minerals, operators must submit a water management plan that details the location of the wells, pipelines, roads, water discharge points and reservoirs.

Knight Technologies takes that information and, depending on the desired output, maps or plots the raw data on a grid, topographic map or aerial satellite photograph.

John Dolinar is an engineer with William H. Smith, a surveyor company from Green River, who has been in Gillette on a temporary coal-bed methane job for the past year and expects to be here another year.

The company has used Knight Technologies for the last year to map and plot all the projects that its draftsmen can’t handle.

“Primarily we use them because we need additional help. They assist us in preparing maps by placing the data we generate,” he said. “I think they’re the only ones in the area doing that. The rest are engineering consultants that work in Gillette ... They have a better way to integrate with different systems than most of us do.”

Pennaco Energy has started making more use of not only the mapping capabilities of Knight Technologies, but also its database management skills, as well.

“This is the only company that I have seen in the area that make databases talk to each other and they are probably one of the better ones,” said John Kawcak, Pennaco’s drilling and construction manager.

Knight has just completed a project that allows Pennaco’s GIS “smart maps” to automatically update weekly, inserting nested data into the map, like layers in a cake.

With data from local conservation districts and independent soil scientists, “smart maps” also can nest information on soil chemistry and susceptibility to erosion.

Methane companies can use these maps to help determine where to discharge water and where not to, Knight said.

But it is not just the mineral industry that have found the services useful.

Knight has been approached by ranchers and landowners who are interested in doing an inventory of their lands before methane wells start producing.

Knight uses infrared satellite images taken from space to map vegetation and drainages that can be used as a baseline measurement once methane development begins.

EUGENE, Ore. — Think of a city known for coffee experts and Seattle, perhaps Portland, come to mind. But Eugene also is home to people who know a few things about whipping up a perfect double skinny latte.

Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup has made a place for itself in the nation’s specialty coffee industry with a blend of training videos, instruction manuals and advice for entrepreneurs and corporations wanting to cash in on America’s coffee craze.

Many baristas have learned the intricacies of making espresso-based coffee drinks by watching Bellissimo’s first video, “Espresso 101,” and a companion, “Espresso 501.”

“We feel fortunate to be the education company for this industry,” owner Bruce Milletto said.

Karen Foley, editor of the Portland-based trade magazine Fresh Cup, said Milletto’s statement is more fact than braggadocio.

An ever-growing number of fancy coffee drinks are being poured each day, but many are not properly made, she said.

“There are a lot of people out there who can use enlightenment and education on how to prepare a cup of coffee, and Bruce is definitely trying to reach those people,” Foley said.

Bellissimo’s story is tied to the nation’s growing fondness for espresso-based drinks, a trend that has made coffee bars and drive-through stands a common sight.

About 29 million Americans drink premium coffee each day, up from 7 million just five years ago, according to the National Coffee Association.

Milletto, who first became interested in coffee more than a decade ago as an importer and then as a retailer, said the beverage itself is only partly responsible for the trend.

Starbucks Corp. has grown to more than 4,700 outlets by creating a place where people like to gather, Milletto said.

“We need a place that is as comfortable as our home or office,” he said. “We need that third place.”

Milletto helps entrepreneurs create that place.

Milletto has just three employees, but he hires coffee experts, authors, designers, artists, video crews, musicians and others, depending on whether he is designing a coffee bar, writing a how-to-business book or making a video.

One of his main consultants is former partner Ed Arvidson of Bend. Milletto and Arvidson started Bellissimo as a coffee cart business in Lake Oswego in 1991 before adding video-making and consulting a few years later.

Milletto may not be well-known in Eugene, but his customers have included such major companies as Borders Books & Music, Sarah Lee, Mrs. Fields Cookies, R. Torre & Co. (the maker of Torani syrup), Gino Rossi (an espresso machine manufacturer), plus hundreds of other firms and individuals.

Tom Kaspar of Eugene and his partners hired Bellissimo earlier this year to help them start Coffee Zone, which opened last July in the Autzen Stadium area.

For about $1,300, Bellissimo gave advice on recipes, menu, pricing and design of the coffee bar, Kaspar said.

Among other menu suggestions, the consultants urged Kaspar to sell more than coffee, namely fruit smoothies and ice-based coffee drinks known as granitas.

Bellissimo is different from many of its competitors, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America in Long Beach, Calif.

“It’s easy to find a consultant to help you learn about roasting, or how to put together a business plan,” said association spokesman Mike Ferguson. “But it’s very unique to find someone who can do all those things and who is publishing books and producing videos.”

After moving to Eugene, Milletto and his wife, Jan, started a coffee bar near the University of Oregon. They later opened an espresso cart in Eugene.

Bruce Milletto and Arvidson, a restaurant veteran who had owned the Baja Cafe in downtown Eugene, teamed up to start Bellissimo as a Lake Oswego coffee cart.

The idea for the “Espresso 101” video came a couple of years later because the partners needed to create a more efficient way to train their employees, Arvidson said.

Said Milletto: “There were volumes of books about wine, but there was hardly anything about coffee.”

“So the light bulb came on” to create a training video that could be sold, Arvidson said.

Within a couple of years, demand for “Espresso 101” and Bellissimo’s second video, “Spilling the Beans,” had grown to the point that the partners decided to sell their espresso outlets and concentrate on media products and consulting.

“People were calling us saying, ’Do you do consulting?’ ” Milletto said.

In 1998, Arvidson sold his interest in Bellissimo to Milletto to go into business in the Caribbean. Arvidson returned to Oregon about a year later when that did not work out, and he has been an independent consultant with Bellissimo ever since.

Milletto declined to disclose his company’s sales, but he said they are less than $1 million a year and growing. About half of the firm’s revenue comes from consulting and the other half from media products.

To make his most recent video, “The Passionate Harvest,” Milletto and his film crew traveled to Ethiopia, Guatemala, Brazil and Hawaii. Kenneth Davids, a San Francisco-based author and coffee expert, wrote the script and spoke in the documentary, along with other experts.

“The Passionate Harvest” has won numerous awards, including one of 16 platinum awards at Houston World Fest earlier this year.

Most of the $125,000 production cost was funded by corporate sponsors that included Whole Foods Market and the Brazil Specialty Coffee.

With the subsidies, Milletto said he expects to start making a profit on the video, which sells for $80, sometime next year.

Making videos and being known as an industry expert helps Bellissimo.

“They do an excellent job of marketing themselves across the country,” said Foley, editor of Fresh Cup magazine.

Similar to other young industries that grow rapidly, the gourmet coffee business is going through a shakeout, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

Between 1995 and 1999, the number of retail outlets, including drive-through stands, ballooned from 5,000 to 12,000, the organization said. Now, many weaker operators are going out of business, so the number of outlets is expected to fall to 10,000 by the end of 2003, said Mike Ferguson, the SCAA spokesman.

But stronger operators will survive and thrive after the shakeout runs its course, he said. With specialty coffee sales growing about 8 percent a year, Ferguson said, the number of retail establishments selling fancy coffee will start to grow again, and is expected to grow to 15,000 by the end of the decade.

Milletto said Bellissimo will profit from the trend, partly through its extensive list of media products and services, including Web site design.

Last year, the firm published a book on coffee drive-through stands, and Milletto is finishing revisions to the nearly 700-page “Bean Business Basics,” which will go into a second printing in January.

LOS ANGELES — El Salvador’s savage civil war drove Roberto and Margarita Herrador north to the United States in search of a safe haven for their family. They found it in a country that, after 15 years, still won’t accept them.

The Herradors and their three daughters are among tens of thousands of Salvadoran and Guatemalan war refugees whose applications for permanent residency, the first step toward citizenship, are languishing in INS files though their eligibility was guaranteed by an act of Congress.

A peculiarity in Immigration and Naturalization Service procedures is creating a large and growing backlog of applications, and agency officials estimate it will take 20 years to get through them.

That’s an eternity for families like the Herradors, who have spent years seeking their promised residency under first one program, then another.

“There are a lot of people whose lives are on hold because of these delays,” said Robert J. Foss, legal director of the Central American Resource Center. “The INS is failing in a very big way around a group of people who have already been through the wringer more than once.”

The people affected have been in this country for more than a decade, and most came to escape civil war. Their lives are burdened in countless ways because they don’t have green cards, the proof of permanent residency.

“It’s created this sort of double standard for us. We have to do double the work to get anything done than the average citizen,” said Ingrid Herrador, 25, in an interview in the family’s small apartment in Mar Vista, a working class community just behind Venice Beach. “And even though we do all of that and could be really good for this society we have all these obstacles that make it almost impossible.”

Ingrid was accepted by the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1995 but couldn’t go because she was ineligible for in-state tuition and student aid.

The family’s legal status prevented Margarita from returning to El Salvador when her mother and then her sister died.

Daughter Claudia, 28, must put off her dream of joining the Peace Corps until her case is resolved.

Roberto, a trained accountant, has worked as a cashier at the same gas station for over a decade and now makes $8 an hour. Career advancement is difficult for a nonresident with only a yearly work permit.

In El Salvador, Margarita and Roberto saw fellow activists in the Catholic church brutally murdered by death squads and the military, and feared for their own lives. Their daughters remember cowering inside as gun battles raged, and finding scattered body parts while playing near their house. Sudden noises still make Ingrid cringe.

“We were forced to come, because we were suffering many things. We had no choice,” Margarita said, speaking in Spanish. “But we didn’t want to be in the situation we are in now.”

The Herrador family is eligible for permanent residency under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, known as Nacara, passed by Congress in 1997. A different provision of the act applied to Nicaraguans and Cubans; their application process is much less stringent and most of their cases have been resolved.

Those eligible had to, among other things, arrive in this country before 1990, live here continuously for seven years and demonstrate good moral character.

There are millions of Salvadorans and Guatemalans living in the United States. Roughly 300,000 are eligible under Nacara and about 100,000 have filed applications.

The delay in processing Nacara claims comes down to a quirk of INS bureaucracy.

Nacara applications are processed by the INS Asylum Division, which handles three other types of cases — asylum seekers, new arrivals to the United States who have a credible fear of returning home and refugees overseas. The INS is required by law to process some of these cases quickly, and classifies them as a higher priority than the Nacara cases.

Asylum and refugee cases are processed first. This fiscal year, that will take about 95 percent of the agency’s time and manpower, leaving just 5 percent to handle Nacara cases, according to agency estimates.

With the asylum and refugee workload growing, only 6,000 Nacara cases a year are expected to be completed from now on. At that pace, it will take approximately 20 years to adjudicate all the cases, according to INS documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Immigration officials acknowledge Nacara applicants are in an unfortunate predicament.

“We completely understand the frustration of the Nacara applicants in terms of waiting for the adjudication,” INS spokesman Dan Kane said. “They deserve to have their applications adjudicated in a timely manner. However, we are doing the best we can with the very limited resources that we have at this time.”

Lawmakers are aware of the Nacara delays. Immigration reform to address the problem failed to pass in Congress in 2001 despite support from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and some Democrats.

More reform efforts were planned this session, but after Sept. 11, prospects for addressing Nacara look dim, said U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, the only member of Congress who is of Central American descent.

“It is not going to go away,” said Solis, whose mother is Nicaraguan and father is Mexican. “Whether it gets addressed immediately or not remains to be seen.”

Margarita Herrador has nearly given up hope of residency for herself and her husband. But she will continue to pray nightly for her daughters to one day become U.S. citizens.

“We have been here so long, begging them. One door opens, and another closes,” Margarita said. “When we came my daughters were little girls. Now they’re grown, and we’re in the same situation, and nothing has happened.”

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In what may be among the most intense, well-funded investigations ever undertaken into a single species, scientists launched more than 150 studies this year to find out why the Steller sea lion population crashed and remains low.

Over the past four decades, the population plunged more than 80 percent in Western Alaska from almost 180,000 animals in the late 1960s to fewer than 30,000. The official listing of this western stock as endangered has threatened Alaska’s $1 billion ground-fishing industry.

That conflict, as much as the biological implications of a species sliding toward extinction, has spurred Congress to act.

Last month, Congress appropriated $40 million for Steller studies in 2002, boosting federal funding to more than $80 million in just two years.

The flood of money has generated laboratory experiments and field studies by hundreds of scientists spread among 25 government agencies, academic institutions and groups.

“I don’t think there’s anything really to compare it to,” said Bob Small, director of the state’s marine mammal program and head of the 20-member recovery team formed under the federal Endangered Species Act. “As for putting money toward a specific species and its specific interactions, it’s pretty unprecedented.”

Veteran fisheries biologist Lowell Fritz, assigned by the National Marine Fisheries Service to oversee funding and keep track of the projects, said the spending has ramped up from just under $5 million for Steller sea lion study last year.

The sheer amount of money has astonished some scientists.

During the early November meeting of the federal Marine Mammal Commission in Anchorage, chairman John Reynolds, a manatee specialist from Florida, used terms like “staggering” and “breathtaking” to describe the 2001 funding level of $43 million. That appropriation had been pushed by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

“It’s probably equal to all the U.S. funding spent on all the other species combined,” Reynolds said at the time.

Within a few weeks, Stevens had secured an additional $40 million for sea lion research through a spending bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments.

Stevens has made clear his hope that better knowledge of sea lions will help keep the valuable commercial fishery alive.

“Last year’s research funds are already paying dividends, and new research continues to disprove the link between fishing and the decline in sea lion populations,” he said in a written statement.

But several biologists say the research so far hasn’t proved much except that sea lion biology is extremely complex. The things that affect sea lion survival — ocean conditions, food supply, predators — have changed over the decades, so the causes and effects are complicated.

The scope of the new research is daunting. At least 115 principal investigators have recruited 300 to 400 helpers to test six general hypotheses — competition with commercial fishing, environmental change in the ocean, predation by killer whales and sharks, diseases, contaminants and mortality caused by people.

The new studies will build on previous sea lion research and take years to sort out, Fritz said.

Some of the most intriguing studies will look at the role played by small, silvery forage fish like capelin, eulachon and sand lance, Fritz said.

“We’re finding that they’re a very important component of the food web, not only for fish that we like to eat, like halibut and pollock and cod, but they’re also an important part of the diet for sea lions,” Fritz said.

One of the most controversial issues has centered on how commercial fishing affects sea lion health. One experiment off the east coast of Kodiak Island will control the level of commercial fishing in certain areas and then measure what happens to sea lions in the vicinity over time, Small said.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico cotton farmers have declared war on a small pest that can wipe out an entire crop.

Boll weevil eradication programs have recently been put in place throughout the entire state, according to New Mexico State University.

“We’re actively working on eradication right now,” said Joe Friesen, the program director for the South-central New Mexico Cotton Boll Weevil Control Committee.

“We’ve just completed our third full season of eradication. We’ve pretty much got the infestation localized to the Las Cruces area.”

Boll weevils are insects that feed on the pollen of cotton plants, causing decreased yield and quality. They were first discovered in New Mexico in 1991.

“It can be devastating,” Friesen said. “They’re very prolific. The boll weevil has to be gotten rid of or there won’t be cotton.”

Friesen said his program has spent more than $2 million since 1998 in the eradication effort.

“The weevil was clearly on its way to getting established here,” he said.

But now a number of agencies and organizations, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state Department of Agriculture, various farmers’ associations and NMSU have joined forces to fight the boll weevil.

Eradication programs usually involve tracking, detecting and spraying fields where the weevils are found.

“We identify every cotton field there is and we place boll weevil traps on those fields,” Friesen said. “When we catch a weevil in the trap, we go ahead and spray. The next week we check it again.”

NMSU entomologist Jane Pierce says a number of factors, including changes in the timing of planting and clearing of certain weeds, have also been found to help keep boll weevils from settling in fields.

These techniques have also proven useful in keeping populations low in fields where boll weevils are already established, she said.

New Mexico and Texas are among the seven states that have established eradication programs because of boll weevil infestation.

Such programs have already helped eliminate the boll weevil in Arizona, California, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

———

On the Net:

New Mexico State University College of Agriculture and Home Economics: http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu

Opinion

Editorials

The interim Pacifica National Board held its first meeting by telephone Saturday and elected three officers.

Leslie Cagan of New York, who represents the former minority board – those working to democratize the station – was elected chair. Carol Spooner of the Berkeley local advisory board was named secretary and Jabari Zakiya of the Washington, D.c. station local advisory board was named treasurer.

The board voted to hold a face-to-face meeting in New York City Jan. 11-13.

And it also agreed to return Democracy Now! to the Pacifica airwaves “as soon as possible.” The plan is for the weekday news magazine, aired for several months on only one Pacifica station – KPFA in Berkeley – to become an independent nonprofit entity and to contract with Pacifica for its programs.

The board appointed a committee to search for new executive director, and passed a resolution requiring station managers to attend the New York meeting and present financial data on their stations.

The board split along partisan lines (old majority and its supporters vs. new majority and its supporters) on three issues that will now require decisions by Alameda Superior Court Judge Ronald A. Sabraw:

One was the question of whether to investigate issues at the New York station regarding persons who were fired and barred from the station. Another was around the question of suspending gag rules that are in place at all the Pacifica stations except KPFA. A third question the judge will decide is around firing the board’s current attorneys.

SAN FRANCISCO – Several San Francisco Bay area charities and nonprofit organizations are bracing for layoffs and budget cutbacks with the coming new year, citing lagging donations during the holiday season.

“It’s the ‘Perfect Storm’ — the combination of the economic downturn, increased caseloads and the impact of Sept. 11,” said Jan Masaoka, chief executive of San Francisco-based CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. “Everybody I know is laying off.”

Shelter Against Violent Environments, a domestic violence organization in Fremont, experienced a $30,000 drop in donations this season, according to the organization’s director Rodney Clark. He said he may be forced to cut four or five staff positions.

CityTeam Ministries, a San Jose-based service providing shelter, food and youth programs, has seen its donations lag $1.4 million behind last year’s total of $4.7 million. CityTeam’s director of marketing, Carol Patterson, said the organization has put on a hiring freeze and may conduct layoffs and program cuts next year.

“It’s a different world,” Patterson told the San Jose Mercury News. “At some locations, twice as many people are asking for assistance.”

Many nonprofits point to donations steered toward Sept. 11 funds as the cause for a dent in their budgets.

Since Sept. 11, Concord-based STAND! Against Domestic Violence had a nearly 70 percent drop in donations. That meant an 8 percent pay cut for the agency’s staff of 130 and the need to reduce its operating budget by about $1 million, according to Devorah Levine, deputy director of programs.

“We’ve been hit really hard since Sept. 11,” Levine said.

The United Way of the Bay Area is $2 million behind its campaign goal of $55 million. That regional hub of the United Way serves San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties.

Even smaller arms of the United Way are cash strapped. United Way Silicon Valley cut its funding to health and human service non-profits by 15 percent this year after donations fell $1.3 million short of last year’s totals, according to interim chief operations officer Michelle Martin.

The hope for many of these organizations is the tried and true method of solicitation to companies that may have weathered the economic downturns of 2001.

“I don’t care if we know them or not. We are picking up the phone and cold-calling them,” Martin said.

SAN FRANCISCO – BART and the Municipal Railway are gearing up to whisk funseekers on New Year’s Eve from venue to venue.

BART will expand its service and is offering a $5 New Year’s Eve “Flash Pass” that allows unlimited rides on BART from 6 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 3 a.m. New Year’s Day. Passengers with a Flash Pass can simply show it to a BART station agent and then pass through the swinging gates.

Muni will extend subway service until 4 a.m. and offer free rides on all routes from 8 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 6 a.m. New Year’s Day.

Police Chief Fred Lau said but he hasn’t received any terrorist-related security warnings about New Year’s Eve and will put 1,000 officers on the streets.

‘Racist’ window display causing furor

RICHMOND – Store owner Bill Knudsen just wanted to have an original window display. But furious neighbors are describing his decoration as racist.

On one side, the Golden Gate Western Gear store depicts a Wild West prison cell holding one occupant: a bearded, turban-clad Arab sitting on straw, facing a hangman’s noose. Wearing dark sunglasses, the mannequin’s hands and feet are bound, a tarantula crawling on his shoulder, a rat nibbling at his fingers.

The other side features marshals John Wayne and Matt Dillon calmly guarding the prisoner.

Critics regard the display as a bigoted attack on Arab-Americans, intended to incite racial animosity toward a community already confronting waves of intolerance.

Critics are the racists, Knudsen said, because they equate his character with all Arabs.

“We’re showing a patriotic scene of western judgment against someone who killed thousands of people,” Knudsen said. “How can it be construed as being against all Arabs? That’s a moronic leap.”

The East Richmond Neighborhood Council sent Knudsen a letter asking him to reconsider the display. The scene could fuel negative feelings of people predisposed to seek out a target for retribution, said council President Nick Despota.

Since Knudsen refused the neighborhood group’s request, there’s not much more it can do, Despota said.

“He has a right to free speech,” Despota said. “As far as I’m concerned, this is a situation where people have to agree to disagree.”

South Bay serial killer denied parole again

IONE – One of the state’s most notorious serial killers was denied parole Thursday for the ninth consecutive time and will continue serving a life sentence for the murders he said he committed at the command of voices in his head.

Herbert W. Mullin said he killed 13 people before his arrest in February 1973. He was convicted of 11 killings in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties.

After a two-hour hearing, the California Board of Prison Terms determined Mullin was unsuitable for parole at this time and denied it for four years, said Sean McCray, employee relations officer at Mule Creek State Prison, where Mullin now is kept.

In a written release, Santa Cruz County Assistant District Attorney Ariadne Symons said Mullin never should be released from prison “due to the number and magnitude of his crimes, their senseless and horrific nature, and the risk he would pose to the community if he were released.”

Mullin, who claimed insanity, testified that he killed on telepathic orders from his father and that he did so to prevent a major earthquake predicted for January 1973.

“He couldn’t understand why he was being prosecuted, even,” said Dr. Donald T. Lunde, a psychiatrist who in the past has testified in Mullin’s defense.

There was no death penalty at the time of his trial, and Mullin was sentenced to life in prison, which meant a minimum of seven years.

Edmund Kemper, who killed and dismembered his mother and seven other women between May 1972 and April 1973, was kept in a cell next to Mullin in the county jail.

“Herbie was just a cold-blooded killer ... killing everyone he saw for no good reason,” Kemper said. “A creep with no class.”

Mullin said he killed a drifter with a baseball bat and stabbed a hitchhiking student, but he was never tried for those slayings. He was convicted of stabbing a priest in his confessional, shooting four camping teens, and killing a drug dealer, his wife and the wife and small children of another drug dealer.

S.F. increasing parking fines for new year

SAN FRANCISCO – Starting Jan. 1, the city is increasing more than a dozen parking fines for everything from parking illegally in yellow and red zones to meter violations downtown.

The biggest jump – from $25 to $100 – is for driving with a missing license plate.

In many cases, parking fines will double. For example, parking on a sidewalk will cost scofflaws $50, up from the current $25. Over the next three years, the fine will increase to $100.

Pedestrian activists, tired of cars blocking their path, had lobbied for even higher fines, but the Board of Supervisors balked.

Fred Hamdun, director of the Department of Parking and Traffic, said the goal is to improve public safety and help the Municipal Railway and trucks move more easily through the congested streets.

Hamdun dismissed the idea that the fines are going up to generate more revenue for the city’s struggling budget. He said that if that had been the goal, the city would be raising fines for some of his department’s biggest cash fines: parking illegally in street cleaning zones and meter violations in neighborhood commercial corridors are two of the biggest.

SAN JOSE — Increased airport security has been difficult for parents, but for children, the waiting in long lines can be interminable.

And as thousands of families stand in the hours-long lines caused by the increased security at airports, children become more and more restless, and parents, more and more frustrated.

But there are a few survival tools parents can pack to make family trips during the busy season less of a hassle.

“Ply them with food and games,” said Kiki Kapany of Menlo Park. She recently flew out of San Jose’s airport with a number of children. She and two other adult relatives took turns standing in line and taking the children to the bathroom and for walks around the airport.

Amanda Prail of Livermore traveled with her husband Andrew Means and their 1-year-old daughter Briallen Means and nearly missed a recent flight to San Diego because of the increased security. To keep Briallen amused, they attempted stunts with her stroller.

While mother Kimberly Johnson of Pleasanton gritted her teeth in the long lines, her 10-year-old daughter Jaina kept from complaining.

But other parents weren’t so lucky, as babies cried and children whined at San Jose’s airport.

Sue Chimsky, a San Jose travel consultant, has organized holiday trips for a number of Bay Area families, and the airport lines and ensuing boredom are their biggest dread, she said.

“Some people are opting to just rent cars for the long weekend,” she told the San Jose Mercury News.

That could also be stressful as more people taking the same option clog highways. But traffic seems to be small potatoes compared to airport challenges.

“It’s very inconvenient,” Johnson said.

To make waiting for a flight smoother, the Mercury News suggests making sure all ticket information is updated before arriving at the airport; premixing baby formula to prevent any anthrax scares; packing only what’s necessary and avoiding sharp objects; and bringing coloring books, crayons, a favorite toy, snacks and a drink for kids.